On Being A Knightly Drone
by iSnowyBlizzard
Summary: SI. Two girls get stuck in a world that's familiar but not completely known. How will things differ now that their beloved video game is real? How will they cope without every day necessities(particularly.. lady products)? How will they survive with no swordsmanship experience? And worst of all... How will they live without showers? Take a sultry glance at my writing infatuation!
1. Prologue: Careful what you wish for

"I don't like this," The girl whimpered, licking her lips and shuffling a bit under the pressure of the man's gaze. "I want to go home."

The man came onto the T.V. screen and he looked at her solemnly, clutching her arms roughly to emphasize his next statement. "We can't go home, now. Don't you get it? We don't have a home."

He sighed and walked a few feet in the opposite direction. "I want to go home, too."

"But you can't. So put a Goddamn sock in it, you loser." I said, taking a swig of purified drinking water and glaring at the television screen.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Come on. Her friends were just killed in front of her. Cut the two some slack, wouldja? Some day your cruelty will catch up with you."

I scoffed. "Yeah, right. Me showing sympathy to these pathetic drones'll happen the day..." I thought about it for awhile, staring off into the depths of a nearby wall. "The day..." I snapped my fingers and pointed at her, having come to a satisfactory conclusion. "That'll happen the day Dragon Age becomes real."

Jamie just sighed and continued on her search for cheap gothic items from online retailers with no life. "Careful what you wish for.." She muttered.

"What was that?" I half-mindedly asked.

"Nothing."

And that was our beginning.


	2. We're - Uh - Relatives!

1.  
"Ugh..." I groaned, rolling over on my side and letting my head drop onto the twirling ground beneath me. "I'm dizzy, I've got a headache, and I don't remember last night. Did we dip into the tequila again?"

Instead of an answering moan like I was expecting, I heard the chirping of birds and felt the fresh smell of dirt being ejaculated into my nostrils.

I sat up quickly and blew air through my nose. "Eugh, gross!"

Pain hit my eyes about the same time daylight did. "Where the Hell are we?" I murmured, putting a hand up to shield my face.

"If I wake up naked, I'm guessing we're in city park." Came a familiar muffled voice to my right. I looked over and there was Jamie, clad in her glow-in-the-dark _Nightmare Before Christmas_ pajamas, her face hid in a blanket of bare arm.

I sighed and leaned back on my free hand. "No, this can't be city park. It looks more like some kind of forest. Reminds me of my aunt's house."

She peeked a shattered sky orb from beneath her arms. "You don't mean the crazy one that lives in the woods, do you?"

I cracked a toothy grin. "The one with all the kids? Yes. That one."

She returned her face to her arms. "Ugh."

A deep, rumbling growl from behind us brought our attention to the fact wilderness can be mean.

"Don't tell me. It's a bear." She sighed.

I turned around to look at our oppressor and my eyes became wider than two dinner plates full with enough food to put anyone in a cardiac arrest. "Nope. Looks like we've woken up to a zombie apocalypse."

Jamie boredly looked up from her dark haven and her expression mirrored mine when she saw it. "Did we fall asleep on a movie set?"

"I.. Uh... I... Just... Run." And with that I sprang to my feet and sprinted in the first direction I saw: forward.

Jamie followed not too far behind. "Don't eat me! Eat her! I taste gross!"

I scoffed. "Yeah, right! She's a vegetarian, she not only tastes better but she's nutritious! Gotta get that breakfast, you know?" I then proceeded to climb a tree with low enough branches. Jamie again followed.

"What the Hell is that thing, anyway?" She cried, climbing much faster than I.

"Like I'd know. It looks like something from_ Face Off_."

Far enough away, the thing below ran off in the opposite direction of our tree. We just sat and gawked at it.

When the thing was gone, we sat in silence for awhile and then Jamie spoke up. "So. I guess this means we're not somewhere by your aunts house."

I looked at her in feigned shock. "What? We're not? I thought we were. That ugly creature was a dead giveaway. Looks like her husband."

"We need to find civilization. We'll die out here." She informed me as she began climbing down.

"I'm hurt. You completely ignored my contemptuous comment." I followed.

"I saw some smoke coming from somewhere over there," She pointed in the direction East of our tree. "Probably some campers. Hopefully they have a cell phone we can borrow."

"I love how you're not in the least concerned about the monster running through the forest." I followed her lead as she began walking towards where she saw the smoke.

She shrugged. "If we did dip into the tequila, there was probably some other drugs involved. We both probably hallucinated the whole thing."

I raised an eyebrow; an effect lost on her since her back faced me. "And we just happened to hallucinate the same thing? The word 'probably' seems to be the basis for most of your conclusion."

She shot me a look over her shoulder. "It's been known to happen. _Did_ we see the same thing, though?"

"I don't know," I over exaggerated each word, "Pale, stinky, looks like something from Lord of the Rings, has a face not even a mother would love? That's _my_ creature. What's yours like?"

She stopped.

"What is it?" I asked, muscles tensed again.

"Shh."

I stayed quiet as requested. A scan of the area around us revealed nothing. The only sounds were the occasional chipmunk scurrying around somewhere unseen to us in the nearby distance.

She continued walking. "What was that all about?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I just thought I heard something. That's all."

I 'hmm'd' as a response and we trekked on for about 45 more seconds before I started talking again. "Doesn't walking around barefoot hurt your feet? At least _my_ drunken mind had enough sense to get my slippers."

"You fell asleep with them on, idiot. And no, it doesn't hurt. I never wear shoes. You know that."

I looked at her strangely. "So we fell asleep, then?"

She shrugged dramatically as if I were accusing her of a robbery. "I don't know! I'm just guessing."

And then I fell on my face.

And she laughed.

"Oh, shut up."

Jamie doubled over in her laughter. "For once it wasn't me something bad happened to!"

I gave her a determined blank stare and stood up. "Don't worry. Once your bad luck kicks in I'll be the one laughing." And brushed myself off.

Her face froze when she looked at what I had tripped on.

I looked down. "Oh."

She walked away faster than should have been possible for a walk and openly gagged over an innocent plant undeserving of the bile she dared give it.

I leaned down into the corpse's face and examined it while trying not to breathe. Dead people, while good company, are often very stinky.

The man, who looked freshly deceased, had what looked like an arrow bolt embedded in his left eye. "That is just nasty." I shook my head and engulfed the sight of his clothing. "Armor?"

Before I stood up and jogged away from his body in hope to get semi-fresh air, I kicked his body. No response. "Yep. Dead.

"Jamie," I called, walking towards her but still keeping my distance so I wouldn't be in the line of fire, "It looks like we're somewhere near an SCA event or a Ren Fair. From the looks of the guy, though, his equipment looks real expensive reenactment. If I had to guess, I'd say SCA event."

She crouched down into a fetal position. "So.." She shuddered, voice wavering in disgust and trauma. "That means no one will have a cell phone?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. Probably not, if they're real hard core. A lot of people bring electronics, anyway, though. So we'll probably find someone. However.." I glanced back at the scene. "He's.. Really dead. Don't know if we should take that as a bad sign, or...?"

She glared up at me. "You're an idiot." She wheezed.

I smiled cynically. "You love me anyway."

I looked in the direction we had been walking before I had fell onto my face. "If we don't get going, that hallucination will come back and eat us."

She shook her head and shakily stood up. "At least the SCA event explains the creepy guy running around with a shit ton of makeup."

I pointed a finger at her. "And rubber mask." I turned into a thinking pose, placing an 'L' shaped hand on my imaginary beard. "Though, it doesn't explain the dead person. Oh, well. Can't have the answer all the time, can you?"

She just stared at me, appalled, as I walked off in the direction we had previously been going.

It didn't take her long to catch up to me and it didn't take long to make it to the fire we were headed to.

"Ah. See? SCA event. We found the heart." I declared, confidently walking into the site ahead. It was a clearing in the forest and there were tents of cloth and hide hung all about. A few wooden stools sat around a mediocre fire pit.

"No people. These must be just sleeping tents. We'll have to find the center. One of the venders probably has a celly." I informed her, continuing on to a path in the camp.

That was when the freaky stuff came in.

We didn't walk long before we came to a miniature theater setup. A few armoured chaps were standing about listening to a nun-looking woman speaking loudly enough for the both of us to hear her from several yards away.

"_There was no word_  
_For heaven or for earth, for sea or sky_  
_All that existed was silence_  
_Then the Voice of the Maker rang out_  
_The first Word_  
_And His Word became all that might be." _The woman's delicate voice carried to us and I stopped dead in my tracks.

I looked over at Jamie, mouth dropped. "Jamie," I croaked.

She had a frozen shocked expression.

"We didn't just walk into any SCA event.." I continued, eyes getting bigger and bigger until I knew if I leaned over they'd pop right out. "We walked into a DRAGON AGE SCA event! Do you know how awesome this is!"

She just stood there, mouth open as big as could go, and still as statue.

I shook her shoulder. "Breathe, Jamie! Live!"

The rattling of metal brought my attention to two armor-clad men running up to us. Before I knew it, I had a sword in my face and an interrogation at hand.

"You! What are you doing here? Who are you two? I don't recognize either of you!" The guy with the sword in my face cried.

"They're witches! Look at their dress!" Another one, with _his_ sword in _Jamie's_ face, told the other.

"State your business!" The one with the sword in my face ordered.

I had the biggest, goofiest, stupidest grin in the entire world plastered on my face as I turned to Jamie. "They want to know what our business is!" I whisper-proclaimed to Jamie.

The guy with the sword in Jamie's face eyed her more than I felt comfortable with and my grin died a little. "A bit of frisky fellows, aren't they?"

Jamie cleared her throat. "We, uh.. Well... We ended up in the woods and, well, ah... We don't really know how. We were wondering if anyone had a cell phone we could borrow. Is this a Dragon Age convention?" Her eyes lit up in wild excitement.

The two glanced at each other in pure confusion. The one with the sword aimed at me looked back at her. "What in Andraste's name are you going on about?"

I poked her with my elbow. "They probably don't want to go out of character. Let's just play along." I clapped my hands together and rubbed them, shuffled my feet a bit and looked at the two. "You two seem like wise gentlemen. Don't mind my companion here, she's a bit daft in matters like these. You wouldn't happen to know where the owner of this fine establishment is, would you?"

Jamie glared daggers at me and pushed me to the side. "Look, we just need a way to contact someone to come get us. We'll be out of your hair and you can continue your role-playing, but for now, could you please answer our questions? I promise we won't tell anyone you went out of character."

The man concerned with Jamie pressed his sword into her chest, making her stumble back a bit. "We're the ones asking the questions, here, witch. Who are you two?"

I laughed in fake nervousness. "No need to get so testy, ser, we didn't mean any harm. I'm Tessa and this over here is my friend, Jamie."

"I don't care if they are role-playing." Jamie muttered softly to me. "If I'm called a witch one more time.."

"From where do you hail, missus?" My swordsman growled.

I made a thinking pose again, stroking my imaginary beard once more. "Now_ that's_ a tricky question. I come from many places. Jamie, on the other hand-"

"They're witches from the Wilds, I tell you! Just look at them!" Jamie's swordsman.

I imagine if my life was a comedic T.V. cartoon, the picture would show a picture of Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum or something of the sort.

"We are not witches." Jamie scowled.

I clapped her on the shoulder. "Ah, don't get so offensive. We've been called witches before. We really must have that certain look about us, don't you think?"

She glared at me.

"If you two aren't witches, then I'm the king of Orzammar. Just look at their attire, Narvin."

The soldier named Narvin sighed. "Oh, be off with it, Gredor. I know you have a thing against the mages, but you can't go about accusing everyone odd you see of witchery. These two look more like circusmen."

"_Circusmen_?" Jamie shrieked incredulously.

I slapped a hand over her mouth and smiled. "Right. Well, we had the misfortune of being misplaced in a circus a little while ago and we haven't been able to find normal clothes since then. Perhaps you could help our- OW!"

Jamie looked pleased with herself.

"Goddamn you and your stupid vampire teeth. She bit me!" I gestured to Jamie and looked at the knights as if they should do something about it.

"_Odd_ doesn't seem to describe these two." Gredor sneered. "I say we take them to the king and see what he does with them."

Nervin looked at Gredor like he was crazy. "Are you mad? The king? What will he do? Get angry and throw us out of his chambers for disturbing his rest? We don't need the_ king_for a matter like this."

Gredor put his fists on his hips and tilted a head at Nervin. "Then just what do you suggest we do? Let them run free and bewitch us all?"

"It looks like we've got the dumber of the lot." I whispered to Jamie.

She looked shocked. "I thought they seemed bright." And rolled her eyes. "Looks like you'll fit in well."

I shook my head and tsked. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Then it's settled." Nervin said, sounding quite annoyed. "We'll take them to Marcus and have him and Erik decide what to do with them."

My swordsman roughly grabbed my shoulder and pushed me onward. "Come on, you."

I smirked slyly back at him. "No need to be so primitive, ser."

He gave me an odd look. If he was going to say anything, I never found out. "Ugh," Jamie groaned. "Now is not the time for your disgusting masochistic properties to kick in." I swear the soldier blushed. I SWEAR to you he did.

We reached a fancier-than-normal-looking tent in no time at all and were forced into it.

Three heavily-armoured men stood around a table. One faced his back to us, one leaned over the table on the other side(a mirror of the one who's back greeted us) and another was on the right of the table, looking much in comparison to my thinking pose and staring at the table top.

"Marcus," Nervin called.

All three turned to look at him. The one in the thinking pose took a few steps forward. "I am here. Speak."

"We found these two coming in from the Wilds," Gredor snidely gestured to us.

Marcus looked us over. The first time he did a once over, it was in shock. The second time he did a once over, it was in repulsed shock. The third time he did it, it was refined. "Who are these jesters?" He asked, turning back to our escorts.

"Circusfolk, from what we can gather." Nervin proclaimed.

"Hey! We are not circusfolk!" Jamie cried indignantly.

"You're either circusfolk or you're witches, take your pick." Gredor growled with too much hatred for only meeting someone a few minutes ago.

"Let's go with circusfolk. You always liked the circus, anyway, Jamie." I waved a hand at her as if it didn't matter either or.

She put her hands on her hips and was about to protest but I motioned for her to shush it. Apparently I have an amazing serious face because she obeyed.

"_Circusfolk_?" Marcus cried incredulously. "They don't look much like the circusfolk_ I'm_ accustomed to. Are you sure?"

"If these people aren't completely daffy, then I'm dreaming. Wake me up when it's over." Jamie crossed her arms.

I looked at her and sighed and then turned to the waiting armoured man. "We're from Orlais. I don't think_ many_ people are accustomed to us."

Marcus ignored us. "Even so, what are they doing here? We are set to battle the blight in less than three weeks from now."

"Rather questionable, isn't it, _Nervin_," Gredor drawled.

Nervin looked at us, then looked at Marcus. "It is only up to your will what we shall do with them."

I raised my hand. "Can I just give my input? Because if so, I'd like to say that I would more than appreciate not being killed. It's a Tuesday. I can't die on a Tuesday. That's just wrong."

"Can't someone just let us use their cell phone?" Jamie sighed. "I think this charade has gone on long enough."

"What in the world is a cell phone?" Asked the man from the farthest end of the table.

That ended up divulging into a debate on whether it sounded more like a type of potato or whether it sounded more like an animal.

"They're pretty good at this acting." Jamie frowned.

I watched. "Yeah. It almost makes you wonder if they went to college for it."

Jamie looked around and soaked in every single detail hungrily as if she was just now seeing the place.

I did the same.

The table had a map of some type of it and looked completely vintage. There was a wooden chest off in the side of the tent and the tent itself looked fairly midevil-ish to a disturbing type of perfection.

I checked out the armour the people in front of us were wearing. If it looked any more real, it would have to actually be real.

I looked back at Jamie. It looked like a million thoughts were swimming in her head.

I tapped on Marcus' armour. He turned around and looked at me. "Wh-"

"Excuse me, ser Marcus," I said in my best polite voice. "But.. Ah... I have a question. Er.. I mean.. If it's not too much to ask."

He frowned at me. "What makes you think you are in any position to ask questions?"

I suddenly felt very out of my league. "Well, I just.. May I please ask, anyway?"

He paused and looked at me very oddly. "Inquire away."

I looked around the room. The guy who had his back to us was standing behind the guy who had been on the other side of the table, so I couldn't see him very well. "I ... Um... Do you... Really not know what a cell phone is?"

He frowned. "No. I do not. Neither do any of us. Explain."

I frowned at him in slight worry. "Well, it's, uh.. It's a device that calls other people over an electronic ... Er... Connection."

He shuffled uncomfortably. "Only witches can harness the power of electricity."

Jamie scowled at him. "We are NOT witches."

He looked us both over, unphased by Jamie's feisty behaviour. "If you are not witches, who are you?"

I shook my head slowly. "No... This can't be it. Marcus, may I ask you another question?"

He scowled. "I asked, 'who are you'?"

My fear was escalating by the second. "I am Tessa and that is Jamie. We're just..." One last try at normalcy. Time to put on the waterworks. "We just want to go home." I said softly, words quivering in a barely-concealed growing sob.

"Please, ser, just help us get home," A tear was let loose.

He seemed taken aback. "W- Uh... Don't... Ah... Well..." He looked around nervously. "Erik," He said under his breath, trying to motion the fellow over while not being obvious.

The guy that had been on the other side of the table walked over and had his hands raised in a position as if he were going to physically stop me from coming near him. "Don't cry, now. There's no need for that," I covered my face and let out a sob. "Oh, Maker."

Erik turned around and gestured toward me. "Alistair?" He almost whimpered.

I stopped sobbing immediately and uncovered my face. The man named Erik stepped aside to let Alistair come through.

My eyes widened immensely.

Jamie's mouth dropped.

"Oh... My Lord..." I said, just as my leg's gave out and I fell to the floor.

While everyone else was confused, we stared. A few seconds later Jamie turned to me, eyes narrowed. "SCA event, huh?"

I shook my head in unbelief. "There's no way," I murmured. "Jamie, this... This is unreal." My voice had suddenly gotten quiet.

Jamie sighed and helped me back to my feet. "Of course it is. This is a dream. And in a few minutes, I'll wake up and everything will be back to normal. You'll probably be back at your computer playing Dragon Age on high volume and that'll explain why I'm dreaming of it."

I glared at her. "That would mean I would have to be dreaming, too, genius. And last I checked, we don't share the same dreams."

She shrugged and put her hands in a relaxed position on her hips. "Oh, this is a dream, alright. You watch. Any moment now Zevran will walk through the door and some twisted orgy will transpire."

I shook my head and sighed.

"If this isn't a dream, I call dibs on Alistair. You can't have him. He's mine." I declared, hands also on my hips.

She looked at me like she couldn't care less. "Okay, as disgusting as that is, you go right at it. I hated Alistair in the game. If you call dibs on him, I call dibs on Zevran."

I held up a hand. "Tell me something I don't know."

Everyone's faced looked very disturbed.

"What... In Andraste's name.. Are you two going on about? ?" Marcus asked, mouth agape and eyes at different levels of opened length.

I laughed a little nervously and looked over at Alistair incarnate. He was literally exactly what he looked in the game(minus graphic problems and whatnot). An exactly replica.

"He looks so... So REAL!" I said, taking a step closer to Alistair. At the same moment, he took a step back and looked at me like I was insane. Everyone else visibly tensed and twitched towards reaching their swords.

I saw this and stepped back. "Hey, no need to get the weapons out. I just wanted to see him up close, is all."

They looked at me as if I were stupid. "What for? ?" Marcus asked incredulously.

My mouth flopped open, but no words came out.

Jamie didn't even try to back me up. She just stood there and stared at me, along with everyone else. I wonder if she even had an idea of what to say.

"Well, I.." I began. Then an idea sprung to my mind. I grinned. "Well, it's just such an honor to meet him." I bowed very fancy and dipped low to show as much respect as I could muster without my knees going out.

Erik scoff-laughed. "Heheheh_ Alistair_? What 'honor' could you possibly have in meeting_ him_?"

I smiled mischievously. "Oh, quite possibly more than you know."

Jamie frowned at me. "You're not seriously taking that road, are you? You know he'll hate you forever if you reveal that to everyone."

I waved a hand at her as if to dismiss the comment. "Oh, come on. You don't even know what I'm going to say."

She crossed her arms and leaned on her left leg a little more than necessary. "You're going to tell them his heritage."

I gasped and slapped a hand over my mouth. "Do what now? But that would be so rude."

Alistair looked extremely antsy and he was about to say something when I cut him off.

"But even if I did, I'm sure they already know he was born to a pilgrim-type family. Right?" I turned to Marcus and Erik in question.

"Oh, was he?" Erik raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.

"Ah.." Alistair smiled nervously. "Yep. You got me." He put the back of his hand to his forehead. "Whatever will I do, now that my colleagues know my deepest secret?"

Marcus slapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, old boy. Most of us were."

I waved a hand to get their attention. "That's actually not what I meant, though. What I was _going_ to say, before Jamie rudely interrupted me..." I shot her a fake dirty look and she rolled her eyes. "Is that it would be such an honor to meet him because his sister has told us all about him."

He looked shocked(as did pretty much everyone else, including Jamie). "You... You have word from my sister?" He looked at me as if he were looking at me for the first time. "I..." He shook his head. "Well, quite honestly, I didn't even know she knew I existed."

Jamie shook her head slowly at me. "You're a monster." She said quietly.

I continued to smile. "I know." I said between my teeth.

I nodded my head eagerly. "Oh, yes." I looked at Jamie in council. "Well, we can't leave _now_, can we? We must socialize with the famous Alistair. Forget calling home."

"Are you.." Alistair stepped forward, an eyebrow raised. "Are you sure you have the right Alistair? I mean, surely there's more than one."

I looked at him and tried to brainwash him with my eyes. "Yes, there are. But somehow I get the feeling you're..._ Special._"

He froze and continued to look me in the eye. "Ah... Hah. I see."

I nodded at Jamie, pleased. "Good. He seems to be getting the message." I turned back to Marcus. "So, how about it? Could we perhaps get some not so freakish clothes and stay awhile to be with Alistair?"

Marcus shook his head and gave Alistair 'the look'. "Right now is hardly the time for a social call. With the blight coming and the war going on-"

I raised my hands as if to stop him. "You won't even have to consider this a social call. I'm pretty handy with a bow and arrow and Jamie here could slug any Darkspawn into next week. Maybe with a bit more training on the sword part we could actually be of help here."

He looked at me incredulously. "You expect us to let you waltz in here and be trained in the ways of the sword?"

I weighed my hands like a scale. "Well... More or less, yes."

Jamie crossed her arms tighter. "Consider us new recruits, if that'll help."

Marcus shook his head with a giant frown on his face. "I don't have the jurisdiction to permit you recruitment rank. Duncan does all that, and he's gone. He won't be back until next week."

I looked at Jamie and bit my lip. If we weren't allowed to stay, they would either kill us or let us go. And if they let us go, the darkspawn and wildlife would kill us. Either way we'd die. Life is peachy, isn't it?

"Could we maybe stay under Alistair's care for a week until he get's back?" I asked in my best best best pleading voice.

"Oh. Great. Because that's exactly what I want. To babysit a couple of my sister's friends." Alistair mumbled.

I snapped a finger and pointed at him. "Hey. We could have valuable information for you, mister. Don't excuse us as stupid people just yet."

"Too late for that.." Erik muttered, looking in the opposite direction.

I frowned at him. "Just because we're weird doesn't mean we're completely dumb. Give us a chance."

Marcus sighed. "I can't. There's no way."

I dropped to my knees and clasped my hands together in a praying motion. "Please. Find it somewhere in your heart to let us stay until Duncan returns."

"They're witches. We can't allow them in camp and expect to be able to trust them." Gredor the silent spoke up.

"We are NOT witches!" I cried. I turned to Jamie. "Why aren't you backing me up any or even saying much of anything?"

She scoff-laughed. "I don't want it to be _my_ fault if they kill us. You can take that blame."

I shook my head. "Oh, Jamie. What would you do without me."

"Lead a happy life, unlike now." She responded almost automatically.

"I'm hurt by your painful statements towards me." I informed her stoically.

"If you want my opinion, it looks like the only damage they'd cause is to each other. I doubt they'd be any harm to one of us." Alistair raised an eyebrow.

Marcus looked down at us and hummed in contemplation.

I took that as my cue to stare at him with my bestest puppy dog eyes.

A few seconds passed before he looked away from me or Jamie and he shook his head. "Oh, alright. But if there's fire from the Void to pay for this, I'm dumping it on you." He pointed to Gredor.

Gredor stepped back as if Marcus had physically shocked him. "_Me? ?_ What'd_ I_ do?"

Marcus shook his head and gave him a weird glare. "Firstly because I just don't like you. Secondly, because you are the one who brought these two here."

Gredor pointed at Nervin. "Well, he helped!"

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. "And you are the one who accused them of being a witch. If they do turn out to be dangerous, you will be held accountable for not ending them before bringing them to us."

Jamie seemed highly amused by this.

I have no opinion.

"Now begone. I have matters to attend to." Marcus turned to Alistair. "That means you will have to leave, too. I can't have_ those two_ listening to our plans and they are under_your_ care, now." He poked his chest at the word 'your'.

Alistair looked between the point of panic and shocked. "But-"

Erik clapped him on the shoulder a few times. "Have fun babysitting, blondie."

Alistair's mouth was still open when he sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Fine. I'll go babysit. You two just go ahead with battle plans by yourselves."

And me, Nervin, Jamie, Alistair and Gredor all evacuated the tent.

Nervin and Gredor left after a very brief chit-chat with the dethroned heir. "Now," Alistair said once the three of us were alone and in a farther off corner from civilization.

"How much is it, exactly, that you know about me?"


	3. Cleaning duty

"Well," I said, only partially nervously. "If you're worried about the whole 'illegitimate heir' tidbit, you don't need to. We already know you're a royal bastard."

He wasn't as shocked as I expected him to be. He raised both eyebrows and looked off to the side a bit. "Royal bastard. Huh. I've got to start using that one."

I looked over at him slyly. "Oh, yes. But we also know the biggest secret you keep..."

He stared at me for a few seconds and then shuffled a bit nervously. "Oh, you do, do you? And just what would that be?"

I grinned as if I held all the secrets to the world. "We know... That you..."

I paused for dramatic suspense.

Jamie waited almost as anxiously as he did.

"Love cheese."

He visibly relaxed a little and let out a laugh. "Oh, Maker. Am I glad you said that. At least I no longer have to hide that from _you two_ anymore. It feels so good to get that off my chest to at least_ someone_."

I nodded and tapped his shoulder in sympathy. "I know. It must have been terrible for you to walk around with such a heavy burden... At least you won't have to deal with that anymore."

But no amount of banter could make the nervousness_ completely_ dissipate.

"So. Have the tall guy and the short guy been partners for long?" I asked, completely changing the subject and not even worried about more pressing matters.

Jamie looked at me like I was stupid(which is normally the look she gives me anyway). "You mean Narvin and Gredor?"

I stared at her blankly for about 30 seconds. "Ah." Five more seconds of staring. "I thought his name was Nervin all this time."

She shook her head at me. "You're an idiot."

I snapped a finger at her and pointed. "I KNEW you were going to say that!"

Alistair walked away with a hand over his face. "Oh, Maker.. What have I gotten myself into?"

We both grinned at that one.

"Alistair," A voice from around the corner of a tent a few yards away called. Alistair removed his hand and looked up to where the sound of the voice came from. "I thought you had errands to do?" The voice continued. Soon enough, from the open mouth of mentioned tent came an older-looking woman with a rag over her shoulder.

From the expression on his face, I thought the guy was going to run away.

"Ah," He drawled, sounding weird in trying to seem pleased to see her. "Ms. Tuffet. How are you?"

I failed at preventing a snicker. "That can't really be her name?" I whispered to Jamie. She slapped me on the arm. "Be nice."

Ms. Tuffet raised her chin at him as if she were trying to point at something with it. "That is not answering my question, young Alistair. What ever happened to those errands of yours?"

He looked out towards the place the sun was and squinted at it. "You know, I'm not quite sure. I think one of the darkspawn ate them."

She put her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Everyone needs to be doing something to help, Alistair, and you know very well that you could be helping_ me_instead of seducing children."

His mouth opened in shocked disbelief. "Wh... _What_? Me! Seducing children!"

I wasted no time and put the back of my hand over my forehead. "Oh, Ms. Tuffet, how right you are!"

He looked over at me as if I were scarringly disturbing and watched me take a few steps towards the woman.

I removed my hand and instead put it on my chest. "This man tried to make us children do naughty, naughty thing's, he did." I shook my head. "If you hadn't stepped in, we would have really believed there was candy in his tent."

He sighed and looked defeated. "And here I thought that would work on you two."

Ms. Tuffet laughed - a weird croaking sound - and nodded shortly. "Ah, yes, well it's very fortunate that I found you when I did." She pointed at him with a crooked finger. "He can be sneaky, that one can."

I tsked. "At least now we know. Thank you, Ms. Tuffet. Dearly." And I was sincere about it... Even if I was actually thanking her for the light banter.

Ms. Tuffet looked amused. "This is your lucky day, Alistair. You're off the hook." She turned to us. "How would you two like to help me with cleaning, instead? You seem like better company than the boy."

I laughed nervously now. "Ahah... C-cleaning, you say? Well, I, uh..."

Alistair didn't even get the chance to look smug.

"We have to be under Alistair's supervision." Jamie said.

I nodded. "Ah, that's right. Yes. We do. I'm sorry." I was already behind Alistair and trying inconspicuously to nudge him forward. "We'd both love to stay and help clean, but, uh.."

He laughed. "Oh, no you don't. I don't have to watch you every minute of the day. You're no witch, at least_ that_ I can tell. As long as you're watched by _someone,_ there should be no problem. I hand babysitting privileges to Ms. Tuffet for the afternoon." He looked up to her, pleased with his accomplishment.

"Oh dear God.." I muttered. Then I looked up to him again, determination in my eyes. "How do you know we're not witches?" I stood back and tried to look scary - I think I achieved the look of a tree. "Abracadabra! And all that. We're vicious, you know."

He did get to look amused this time. "I guess I'll know who to blame when the camp blows up, won't I?"

"Come on. Cleaning isn't that bad." Jamie said, grabbing my wrist and beginning to drag me over to the older lady.

I looked at her as if she were the scariest thing I'd ever seen. "That's not what I'm worried about."

/ / / / /

"_This_ is what I was worried about." I stated, staring at the scrub board. "We don't even know how the Hell to use this thing. How are we going to be of any help?"

Jamie rolled her eyes and took the tunic I had been holding from my hand. "I do."

I put my hands on my hips. "Where did you learn to use a scrub board? Girl Scouts?"

She looked at me in a weird mixture of distaste and humor. "I learned it from Disney." She said proudly.

I lowered my eyelids at her. "Oh, really."

She looked accomplished. "Yes. Yes I did."

I groaned and sat down on a stool nearby. "That's a freaking animation. It's not legit."

She shrugged and sat down on the stool just across from mine. "Well, my grandma_ may_ have helped in the learning process."

I looked at her and shook my head. "Your grandma... "

"Here. I'll show you how to use it." She told me, scootching her chair closer to the big barrel of water in between us.

I stood up and stepped back. "Ohh no. You are not getting me to touch one of those. I hate laundry enough as it is."

She gave me the look (you know - that one your grandmother gives you when you're talking about orgies in her bedroom). "Come on. Whether you like it or not you have to do something. And I'm not doing this all by myself."

I looked around overdramatically so she would have to ask why.

"What?" Her eyebrows creased together in odd confusion.

I just kept looking around. Apprehensively, she joined... Until my next statement. "I'm searching for something to throw at you for distraction so I can make my great escape and run away."

I shrunk down like a rollie-pollie bug when I felt water being thrown at my face.

/ / / / / /

After I was (unwillingly forced to get) finished with cleaning the required amount of clothes for Ms. Tuffet to release us from her evil grip, me and Jamie went out to search for Alistair. A half an hour into searching, we had no luck in finding him.

However, we did find the kennel.

"OH MY GOD! SOPHIE!" Jamie shrieked, sprinting full-on towards the wooden cage.

I nearly fell over as she passed me. "Agh!" I stumbled. "Jamie, damn you and your whiplash." I grumbled.

"Miss! Miss! You can't go in th-" The kennelmaster was promptly pushed on his arse the moment Jamie came within five feet of the cage.

"My baby!" I heard her cry.

I jogged towards where she had become a gigantic creature of dogpile and drool.

"Tessa! Tessa! She's here! My dog is here!"

I just stared at the vivacious entity known as my best friend. "They have tiny Mabari's?" Every one of the dogs sprawled all over her looked like different types of mutt puppies.

"Ugh," The kennelmaster was slowly standing up. It looked as if Jamie had cracked his spine. "Those aren't Mabari's. Those are spare dogs from the Free Marches. They were supposed to be transferred out of here a week ago."

Jamie whipped her head (to which a dogs paw slowly slid onto) towards me. "A week ago? Why haven't they left?"

The man shook his head. "All of our carriagemen have been felled by the darkspawn. I think these kits are going to battle here with us until the bitter end."

Jamie glanced towards me as if to confirm the doom looming around the corner.

"That's... Horrible." I frowned.

He nodded, then looked at Jamie. "Now, put that dog down."

The dog now named Sophie hadn't stopped licking Jamie's face since the moment she set foot in the cage. Jamie glared at the man and hugged the dog closer. "She's mine."

I suspected she was about to growl, but she didn't. I looked at the man. "I suggest you let her keep the dog, sir. Thing's could get ugly if you refuse."

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I looked at Jamie, then looked at Sophie, then looked back at the man. "It most likely means she'll run off with her dog with or without your permission. And then she'll seduce the king into having you beheaded."

He looked widely disturbed, but didn't get a word out before Jamie screeched some incomprehensible litany of words. The horde of dogs were circulating their positions on her, and their nails had dug into wherever they moved.

Almost simultaneously to this, some poor elf carrying a basket of prime ribs tripped on a stealthy pebble and dropped the meat all over the kennelmaster. The puppies promptly turned to eat him alive.

I didn't even have to say a word to Jamie. Taking our dumb luck when we could get it, we both booked it out of there and away from the man, leaving him to his slobbery fate and taking Sophie with us.

/ / / / /

With the help of a very happy Jamie, we found Alistair again. He was off walking towards the small prairie East of the Quartermaster.

Instead of following him, I stopped and looked at Jamie questioningly. "Should we ask someone what the countdown to war is? We don't exactly know much about the timing, here."

Jamie speculated the area around us (we were standing right next to the Quartermaster) with creased eyebrows. "I think we got here around the time we did in the game, didn't we?"

"Maybe we should go ask Narvin and Gredor." I suggested.

"If we can find them." She quipped.

"Did you hear Greigors younger brother, Gredor, is here at Ostagar? The Night Commander's kin in the flesh!"

Me and Jamie turned simultaneously to see who was speaking.

"Forget about that! Gredor is last fortnight's gossip. I heard circusfolk came into camp today!"

Two beady-eyed men that looked like they hadn't taken a bath in months were sitting down in a long forgotten corner by a colorful tent.

"Oh, look! It's the camp's gossipers!" I declared, intrigued.

"I guess we know who to ask, then." Jamie said.

And so we did.

"Excuse us, good sirs," I walked up to them, stroking an imaginary beard.

They both looked up at me and Jamie with wide eyes and caught-in-the-act faces, as if we were the devil come to claim their souls. "But do you know how long it is until we make the march?"

Their expressions didn't change; all they did was stare.

"Well," Jamie put her hands on her hips leisurely. "Looks like you scared the Jeebus out of them. I guess we WILL have to get that face surgery for you..."

I shot her a dirty look. "Oh, whatever." I stuck my chin up in the air as if I were a queen. "They just can't handle ALLL of this amazing." I ran a hand along my torso to my hip.

"These must be the clown folk we heard about, Kip," Nudged one of the men to the other.

"Don't know 'bout that one, Pip. These gals seem a bit stupider than what I thought they'd be."

I turned on my heel. "Well! We aren't getting any information from _these_ people, apparently."

"Oh, just calm down. Come back here and we'll negotiate."

I stopped briefly enough to glance back at her before I turned away and said, "_You_ can do that. _I'm_ going after Alistair."

She sighed loudly and I half expected her to come back and drag me to the gossip-mongers, but she didn't.

It only took me a little more than four minutes to find my way to where I thought he would be.

"..I know exactly what you mean." A slightly sarcastic voice said, belonging to a woman probably in her mid-twenties that stood in front of Alistair.

"It's like a party." Alistair told her, as if he hadn't heard her statement. "We could all stand in a circle and hold hands." He seemed delighted at the image in his head. **"That** would give the darkspawn something to think about." He smiled in some long forgotten direction just finding amusement in his own joke before his grin faded and he looked at the woman as if he had just had an epiphany. "Wait a minute," He said. "We haven't met before, have me? I don't think I know you." His realization turned to a four-year-old type of grumpy dread as he added, "You wouldn't happen to be another mage, would you? I've had enough of them today."

The woman did a mixture of a snicker and a scoff. "I am no mage. You wouldn't catch me dead with one, either."

Alistair shrugged nonchalantly. "Fair enough." Realization dawned again in his eyes, this time with a bit of embarrassment. "Wait, you're Duncan's new recruit. From Gwaren, right? I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."

The girl, of whom I could only see her well-rounded backside, rest a hand leisurely on her hip. "No offense taken, however, I am curious as to what the Maker-forsaken mages have done to make_ you_ dislike them possibly as much as I."

He raised his eyebrows and waved his hands in front of him as if he were making sure a war didn't break out. "No, I've got no problem with the mages. It's just that my background makes a lot of mages nervous around me, and," He chuckled a bit hoarsely, "Nervous mages make _me_ nervous."

She seemed a bit disappointed. "I see."

He nodded curtly. "Yes. Well. I'm Alistair, the new Grey Warden. Though, I'm sure you already knew that." His mouth twitched upward, but fell back down as soon as it did, as if he wasn't sure whether it would be proper to smile or not. I suddenly felt as if he were out of his element, like he was trying to be a car salesmen or something. "As a junior member of the Order, I'll be accompanying you when you prepare for the Joining."

Her head cocked slightly to the side. "I can't prepare for myself?"

He seemed to relax a little bit at that. "I know, I felt the same way when I joined. Unfortunately, they don't give you much of a choice." Wonder and a certain thoughtfulness I found intriguing seeped into his expression. "You know, it just occurred to me that there have never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is."

I took that as my cue to step in. I walked up and rested my elbow on his shoulder plate as if he were a standing post; it ended up looking weird, though, because he was much taller than I was. "It's because the Wardens need to be able to mate, no?" I waggled my eyebrows at the chick standing in front of me, now. In the back of my mind I heard Jamie tell me I was an idiot.

She was the ideal image for anyone who dreamed of living in a Playboy mansion. Silky hair, perfect nose, bright eyes, plump lips, simply arched eyebrows. "Who are you supposed to be?" The way her eyes scrutinized my attire made me feel squirmy.

"I'm the camp's new clown. And you are...?" Suddenly I felt as if the elbow on Alistair's shoulder was a giant crime committed against all that was good in the world.

"Not amused. If you can be useful and point me in the right direction as to where I can get something to eat, I might be in a better mood."

My eyebrows drew together in confusion rather than annoyance. "You haven't eaten yet? I would have thought Duncan gave you something when you got here. It's been a long journey."

She looked exhausted as her eyes fell half shut. "You don't have to tell_ me_ that._ I_ was the one walking."

I moved away from Alistair and patted the woman on her shoulder. "Don't worry, old girl. We'll get some grub into you before long. Right now I think it would be best if Alistair escorted you back to the bonfire, lest you get in trouble on the first day."

I turned back to the only male amongst us and also patted him on the shoulder, this time more roughly. "Have fun gathering the new recruits."

And with that, sped off.

/ / / / /

As it turned out, Alistair was busy with the new recruits, so me and Jamie were supposed to be in the care of Ms. Tuffet until he could return in his duties.

I found this entire ordeal interesting. In reflection:

A. We got sucked into a video game

B. We revealed precognitive powers on accident (mostly)

C. We made a mess of backgrounds with Ali-boy

D. We somehow ended up under the CARE of said Ali-boy

E. We became circus clowns

F. We became the washer and dryer for the whole friggin' camp (that, by the way, shouldn't have existed).

And here I thought my week was going to be spent working on the yard.

"You must wear these from now on. You two cause far too much attention with those... flamboyant _rags_ you call clothes." Ms. Tuffet said, holding up some dark puke green sheets with arm holes.

"Brilliant." I said unenthusiastically, taking the cloth simultaneously as Jamie did.

I opened a flap in the back of the light tan tent we had been cleaning dirty laundry in before, which was adjacent to the tent Ms. Tuffet had just handed us our clothes in. I felt uncomfortable changing in-between the thin sheets of cloth, as if the whole world were watching me and the cold air was feeling me up. As soon as the deed was done, I hugged my warm pajama clothes to my stomach to try and salvage any heat I could.

"Where should I put these?" I asked the boss as soon as I returned to where she stood waiting.

She grabbed them from my hands. "You won't be needing these anymore. They're filthy, anyways." And then promptly threw them in the stove fire she had going.

All I could do was have a mini heart attack and gape at what she had just done. "N... No...! How could you?" I shrieked.

Ms. Tuffet was unphased. "Oh, please. Now get in there and continue with the dirty garments. You keep in mind that you're still untrusted, here."

/ / / /

"An entire day. Of cleaning. Just cleaning. Please take a gun and shoot me right now. In the face." I said, scuffing the dirt beneath my new footwraps.

"As appealing as that sounds, I don't think guns have been invented yet." Jamie compromised.

I grimaced. "Then shoot me in the eyeball with an arrow."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. It's not THAT bad. At least we don't have pigpen duty or something ghastly like that. Andraste knows you'd probably die of natural causes if that were the case."

"Andraste..." I murmured to myself, "That's just so... foreign to hear people besides us saying it. It's odd."

Jamie shrugged.

The day had fallen and the sun had sunken beneath the giant hills cascading around the area we were staying in. Shadows danced along anywhere a torch wasn't lit, and I felt as if they would somehow come alive and whisk us all away into some fairytale land where darkness reigned dominant.

A lonely campfire with only Alistair and a couple other Wardens sat somewhere off in a corner, and the scent of something I assumed was edible could be smelled from a few yards away.

Me and Jamie both went to sit with them and we quickly became the topic of idle chatter, questions and suspicious gazes following our words constantly.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Jamie told me, "I'll be back."

I shrugged. "Sure."

It seemed a little odd to me that no one really knew what she meant by bathroom (or at least it looked that way). Perhaps they were called powder rooms or something. Not that they probably had them_ here_, though. She was probably going to go out behind a bush or something.

"So, uh..." Alistair began a bit sheepishly, not long after Jamie had left. I looked over at him in question.

"Yes?" I asked.

He tilted his head to the side a bit. "Not to be rude or anything, but how did you and your friend end up traveling together?"

I raised an eyebrow. "We were like any other best friends. Met each other in... the... marketplace. Gehh... Ages ago. Why would that be rude?"

He looked kind of surprised. "Well, I was just wondering. It's not often you see such a close relation between an elf and a human."

I just stared at his face until the light from the fire made his expression all warbled and weird.

And then it finally clicked.

"Oh, Lord. Wait until she get's a load of this."

And just at that same moment...

"Ugh. I already hate this place. I can't wait until we get to Lothering." Jamie said, coming up from behind me.

I am so sure that if I looked any more smug I would have been kicked off the log I was on. "Why?" I asked, already having an idea formed.

She came to sit next to me on the log I was on. "Some guy mistook me for a slave. So annoying.."

I grinned. "Looks like your pointed ears finally come in to kick your arse."

She placed her head in her hands. "Ugh."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. Look on the bright side: you're not a female mage AND an elf. Those are the worst combinations ever, unless you LIKE to be hated." I clapped her on the shoulder. "Someone also told me earlier today: You'll fit right in."

And that's the first time Jamie gave me a bruise in the Dragon Age world.


	4. We're going to be a what now?

The camp was cold that night. The atmosphere and the air all at once. It chilled me to the bone.

I missed my grandma. She had raised me until I was four years old, so I had come to call her 'mama'. Then I was taken to live with my real mother for the next ten years. I had only recently gotten back to live with my Mama, away from the evil clutches of the woman who had initially given birth to me. Eight months I had spent reunited with her. They were extremely short in the span of time that was my life. I felt like I had just gotten her back, and now I was here. I felt alone. It was a familiar feeling for me, and yet it stung like a sore wound that had been reopened. I had gotten used to the feeling of having Mama around; someone to love me through all the pain I had experienced. And now she suddenly wasn't there.

But that wasn't the worst of my problems. The worst one, far more imminent, was the blinding light leaking in from everywhere when the morning came around. Damn tents had no density whatsoever.

"Jamie. Turn off the lights." I groaned.

I didn't know, however, that we were actually_ in_ the tents.

I swept out a hand to try and find her to nudge her to go turn them off, but I wasn't met with Jamie's form laying next to mine nor was I met with any significant amount of bedding. I had instead knocked a bucket of dirty water all over me.

"AH! WHAT THE FU-" A dog licking the inside of my open mouth made me stop what I was saying and gag. "Ugh! Sofie! Gross! No kisses!" I flailed about hopelessly, trying to get the water off of me and the dog away from my face. The blankets that had been wrapped around me as I slept served as restrictions that made me feel much like a mummy. I frenetically ripped them off, pushing the dog away in the process, and thrashed in my new clothes until I was able to sit up. I looked around, frantic.

"Jamie...?!" I didn't recognize where we were at all. I had temporarily forgotten all about the strange events of yesterday and had no clue as to what was going on in my sleepy stupor.

The tent flap opened and Jamie, my rag-clad knight in smelly armor, came rushing in to save me. "Shush, shush, shush! It's alright! We're at Ostagar, remember?"

I gaped at her and her clothes while her words tried to compute in my whirling mind. "You mean... Wait... That was... I'm not... Dreaming?" Nothing seemed to come out right.

Jamie kneeled next to me, her nose stuck up. "What did you spill all over you? It stinks."

I was distracted as I looked down to try and figure out what she was talking about. "Stink?" I whimpered like a four year old.

She sighed and shook her head. "Come on, let's get you down to the watering hole."

I looked at her as if she were insane. "But Alistair? And the... And he exists? But what about... The king, then.."

Jamie seemed on the verge of rolling her eyes and stuck a finger to my lips. "Just shush, Tessa. Your one tiny brain cell will figure this all out in a few minutes."

As she worked on stuffing her arms underneath my shoulders to haul me up, the tent flap opened up and Alistair came rushing in. I sparsely recognized that his sword was drawn and panicked movement from outside made the world seemingly noisier.

His eyes were frantic and he wasted no time in explaining what was going on. "You two better get out of here - quick. A darkspawn raid has been sighted, and unless you intend on becoming a tasty breakfast, I suggest you run with the rest of the people who don't know the first thing about using a sword."

Jamie's eyes went wide and she went into overtime in getting me into a standing position. I was nearly_ thrown_ on my feet while my morning-bogged mind tried to comprehend what was happening.

The events of the early day went by in a blur, too fast to remember all the fine details.

I was dragged by Jamie in the opposite direction of where several armored men were running towards, women carrying pots and other assortments and men carrying equipment of all kinds jogging alongside us.

I had barely understood what Alistair had said, much less why everyone was suddenly so frenetic. The world seemed to spin with all the abrupt change of events.

I heard a buzzing sound right next to my ear and turned my head, thinking it was a bee and that I needed to shoo it away, needless if I was scurrying on full gear at the time. Not even a second later, the woman carrying a bundle of bread that was running in front of us fell flat on her face, a loud cracking noise preceding the occurrence. I stared at her as Jamie ran even faster away. She had an arrow firmly planted in the back of her skull.

It was then that thing's began to process in my head, an animalistic sense of survival coming over me. I pried my hand from Jamie's grip and began to run on my own. We were innumerably faster this way and easily retreated from the battle behind us.

A man with a sack of what seemed to be potatoes ushered us into a large tent with fine embroidery on it. As he pulled away the heavy cloth to let us in, a woman with bright red hair and stunning emerald eyes all but shoved us into a circle of people that seemed to be in the same boat as we.

A few people with shields on their arms and swords in their hands stood about in defensive poses from every angle, ready to protect the people within should harm come our way.

"Keep your guard up! I won't have more people dying. The darkspawn have already taken enough." The red-haired woman proclaimed.

I was wide awake now. The adrenaline pounding in my blood mixed with the imminent danger we could be in was enough to get my brain moving.

"Wait a minute.." Jamie muttered, eyes transfixed in the woman who appeared to be our hero.

"Taking care of these people aren't our duty, Vallen. Loghain explained that." One of the armored folk, a man standing a bit off in the corner away from the rest of us, stated.

Just as the words had left his mouth, a valiant man in a shining Templars suit rushed in through the tent, three women and two men coming in behind him.

"Four dead, two injured," The man stated. His alert grey eyes were focused on the red-haired woman, ignoring the rest of the people in the vicinity.

She nodded curtly. "Make sure we get the injured somewhere safe. We'll worry about the deceased later."

He didn't waste time. "Already on it. Carver and a few other men have taken the wounded to Kerin's tent."

The woman seemed relieved. "And this is why I married you. Always on task." Her voice was back to protocol in an instant, "You there," She pointed to the man who had spoken to her in doubt earlier, "Go with Wesley and secure the area with his group. I don't want those beasts getting even a step closer to us."

The man's reluctance to be there with us faded at his new task and he hurried away with the raven-haired man named Wesley.

I stared at the back of her head for what seemed like forever while the sounds of battle clanked all around us. My inner pondering was getting the best of me. I knew in my heart that it had to be her, but no - the coincidence was just too great.

"Aveline?" I murmured in amazement and uncertainty.

The woman who seemed to be making the decisions turned around at the name. She scrutinized me, not unkindly, but in thoughtful speculation. She seemed a bit confused as her eyes raked over my face several times. "Do  
I know you...?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

As if my own lack of words had stopped all other noise as well, the roar from outside stopped just then. The silence was as loud as any bomb; it was nearly foreign after so much fighting.

"All is safe!" Was the call from outside. Numerous different voices rang out in unison, all declaring the same thing. We could return to our duties.

_Saved by the bell,_ _it seems,_ I thought. But I thought wrong.

The people and the knights inside our tent immediately began shuffling out, none of them looking more than only a little phased. I briefly wondered if this was a common occurrence.

Aveline stayed behind.

"I don't recognize you. Normally I recognize everyone I've met. So the question is, have we?" She was especially calm for just having gotten out of a mini blight - it only made my theory that these thing's were normal more solid.

I made up a lie right on the spot. If I was going to tell her the truth about anything, I would do it later... Probably in Kirkwall. Theoretically speaking, being as how I would probably not still be alive by then. "I knew your mother." I blurted out. Then I realized how stupid that sounded and added, "Well, kind of. I knew her family."

She looked shocked and ubelieving. "You... _What_?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, mostly to get the itchiness from a poor lie off of it. "Yeah... That's a long story."

She shook her head. "If you're going to lie, at least do it well." Someone calling for her outside the tent made her eyes narrow at me in cautious wonder. "I'll see you around camp... And when I do, you can guarantee I get the truth from you."

A few minutes passed and me and Jamie just stared at where she had once been. Finally, Jamie turned to me. "'I know her mother'? Seriously, Tessa?" I could only shrug helplessly. She sighed. "I'm not going to save your sorry ass when she comes back to make that promise happen. You can get yourself out of this mess all on your own."

She was dignified, of course, but it didn't make the reality any more pleasing. "It's always good to know you have my back."

/ / / / /

The rest of the day passed mostly quietly. Everyone was busying themselves with trying to get everything back in order. The unfortunate souls who had died in the attack were buried and eulogized quickly and efficiently and the shops and kitchens were back up and running before the sun dared to begin disappearing behind the mountains surrounding us.

As we were sitting down at the campfire that night to eat, I asked Alistair in-between a slurp of gooey tasteless soup, "Do these raids happen often?"

He was chugging down his third bowl. When he lifted his face from the now empty piece of fine wooden china, he wiped his chin on a sleeve and answered, "Only in the past few days. It's like something even worse than our setting up a party here has upset them. Duncan's worried even more that it could be a Blight."

I glanced at Jamie and wondered if she were thinking the same thing as I. From the look on her face, I knew she had to be.

Alistair got up and started heading back to the kitchen tent, presumably for another bowl. I watched him and shook my head in mock disapproval. "It's a good thing winning the Blight doesn't rely on food resources. With Alistair's eating habits, we'd all be dead within a week."

Jamie scoffed. "A week? I give it three days."

I shrugged, a grin on my lips, and continued eating.

She lowered her voice. "In all seriousness, though, did you catch onto that? Only within a few days. Do you think our arrival here has anything to do with it?"

I sloshed the grey muck in my mouth longer than necessary, thinking carefully on my next words. "Maybe. But we've only spent a night here. If we are the cause of this new upheaval, then that would mean we were already affecting things in their dimension before we even arrived."

She nodded infinitesimally. "I know. But maybe the set precedence of us being here has to do with the _way_ we got here. I mean, I don't know how we're even in this place, but whatever way we were transported, it's possible it's the reason the darkspawn have been so horrible lately."

"Gossiping already, are we?" Alistair asked, a bit amused, as he came to sit down on the log he had previously been on.

I turned to him with a smile, even at that time finding it impossible to be unhappy with his interruptions. "But of course. We were asking each other why you don't just stand by the soup pot and drink it all down instead of going back and forth for more every other second."

He smiled a bit sardonically. "Oh, believe me, I already tried _that._ The kitchen lady shooed me out of there with a broom. It wasn't pretty, I'll tell you that much. There was fire coming out from her mouth and everything!"

Me and Jamie both laughed. "Are you sure she isn't a witch? Did she fly on that broom of hers, as well?"

His eyebrows raised and he smiled almost connivingly, "Oh, I have no doubts about her being a witch. One time she stirred up a soup that made Gredor's eyes swell up for a week!" He sniggered.

I looked down at the swirling grey slop in my lap. "I'm beginning to question the security of this."

Jamie patted me on the shoulder. "It's okay, Tessa. If you keel over and die, at least I'll know not to eat any more of her food. You'll be doing a service to us all."

"But then who will taste the wine?" I asked innocently.

She waved a hand as if to excuse my comment. "We've got Zevran for that."

I shook my head and tsked. "I feel bad for him already, and he hasn't even met us yet."

I think Alistair was lost to our conversation from then on.

/ / / /

The next morning was, in a way, a replay of the day before. I woke up and didn't know where I was, Sofie licked my face, I got tangled up in the blankets, spilled some unknown liquid onto my small clothes, and Jamie came in to rescue me.

"Yesterday was a mess, so Alistair couldn't tell us about the changes in babysitting," Jamie told me once I had swapped dresses with some unsuspecting person who had left theirs on the clothes line.

I looked at her, pausing my work to hang up the dirty dress in replacement for the old one. "Changes? What do you mean?"

She seemed a little hesitant to tell me. "Well, what with Duncan being back and Alistair being set up to take care of the new recruits, they had to find someone new to take us in. So..." She trailed off.

I hung up the dress and put my hands on my hips. "So..?" I pressed.

She shrugged. "So Duncan volunteered. We were originally going to be his responsibility in the first place, and he wanted to get to know us firsthand."

I stared at her. "Oh. Well, why did you seem so reluctant to tell me?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know, I guess I just wasn't sure how you'd react. I know you like Alistair and all."

I tipped my head from side to side, weighing her thinking and accepting her reasonable conclusion. "Yeah, I do," My voice seemed too high of a pitch to be confessing a known truth. "but I know thing's aren't exactly the best of times right now. We were supposed to be waiting for Duncan, anyway, so I was kind of expecting this."

She nodded. "Good then. I was supposed to come get you to take you to see him right now, actually."

I waved a hand as if to gesture for her to move. "Lead on, then."

And she did. As soon as we got there, it was clear that Duncan had been waiting for us. He was pacing back and forth, stroking his beard. When he heard us nearing him, he looked up at us and removed his hand from his petting.

He looked from her to me and nodded, seemingly pleased with my appearance. "Come with me." He said gently, authority clear in his voice.

We followed him to a scenic spot in the trees with a long row of wooden tables and a few boxes and barrels laying about. On one of the tables there sat two sets of a bow and arrow, a crossbow, a sword, a dagger, and some small throwing knives.

He came to stand behind said table. He looked us both in the eyes and waited for a few seconds while we were simply there to wonder what he had in mind. When we said nothing, he then pointed to a nearby shrub. "Imagine darkspawn are about to attack you from those bushes." He gestured slowly to all the weapons. "What do you choose to defend yourself?"

We both began to inspect the items with an appraising eye.

"Better hurry. They're charging you."

I glanced at her quickly, as if there were real darkspawn approaching and we had to rush right then and there.

She grabbed one of the crossbows and situated it on her shoulder, wasting no time to scope to where Duncan had said the imaginary darkspawn were.

I first snatched the throwing knives, looping them in my fingers to where I could still easily hold something in my hand if need be and then took up the bow and arrow, pulling the arrow back on the string faster than I'd ever done in my life. I moved several fast paces to the side of Jamie for safety and also aimed to where Duncan had pointed.

He motioned for us to lower our weapons. We did.

"You both seem to have experience with your chosen objects." It wasn't a statement. It was an unspoken demand that we explain our origins.

"There's a lot of fighting where we come from." I explained. It wasn't necessarily a lie. Planet Earth wasn't exactly known for being peaceful 24/7.

He seemed to accept this response. "But why did you choose the weapons you did? Your friend here chose the crossbow, while you chose_ two_ objects. I hear rumors that you grew up together. Did you not learn the same skills?"

I glanced at Jamie once more.

"Not all siblings have the same talents," Jamie informed him. "You should know that."

I chimed in, "She liked more direct and speedy equipment, while I was more infatuated with _all_ things ranged. I don't like to be close to my enemy; it was only natural for me to learn how to throw knives as well as become one with archery."

It was a lie, of course. Though she wasn't bad at the original bow and arrow, she was better with a gun. It would make sense that she would probably be more comfortable with something relatively similar to that than something she was amateur at.

As for myself, I was excellent with a gun. Better than her, of course, but I had far more experience with them. I was raised with a military shooting range junkie as a stepfather who was always more than eager to spread knowledge of guns to everyone and anyone - even if it happened to be me, the one person he despised most in the world.

The throwing knives weren't as complicated. The same aforementioned stepfather loved all things martial arts and battle-oriented. Longswords, short swords, daggers, knives, throwing stars, katanas, morning stars, and sais were all a common wall decoration when not being used. Though I was only shown once how to throw them and hit my target, I figured I had a better chance of survival if I had a backup plan should my archery skills fail me.

SCA events and ren fairs were also a common thing when I was growing up. I had my own longbow and set of steel-tipped arrows for quite some years before it was taken away in the divorce between the woman who had given birth to me and the man she had been committed to for 11 years. I wasn't exactly the greatest archer out there - I couldn't hit a bullseye five times in a row and split all the arrows like some glorified woman on T.V., but I could definitely kill a moving target in a split second.

Duncan nodded again and began to stroke his beard. We waited, a bit apprehensively, and kept the weapons in our hands, unsure if he wanted us to set them down or prepare to shoot again.

I was expecting many things and I was also not expecting anything at all. I thought maybe he would suddenly grow a Jehovah Witness type of persona and say, "Have you heard the good news? We're recruiting!" but he didn't. He instead stood in contemplation for a very long time. I wondered if his beard might fall off or wear thin with how much he tugged on the poor thing.

I shuffled, my feet suddenly becoming very uncomfortable. "So..." I drawled, "What's on your mind?"

He looked up at me as if he had forgotten I was even there. "How did you end up here?"

It wasn't in the list of statements I had made up for him to say. I cocked my head to the side a bit. "We don't know. We just woke up right next to your camp and ended up here." His eyes narrowed imperceptibly - he obviously didn't believe that. I held my hand up, knives being swung up with it. "May Andraste's flaming sword smite me if I'm lying."

He shook his head. He apparently would have to think about my explanation for awhile, but I supposed now was not the time, as he continued, "You must have family? Or friends...?" His voice was deceivingly friendly and informal - he was trying to find out more, that much was clear.

I shook my head. "All of my family is dead, besides my sister and my grandmother. But I wouldn't know where to find them even if you pointed me in the right direction." It was true, strictly speaking.

He looked to Jamie. She half-shrugged. "My dog Sofie is my family." It was a short answer, but it was enough... and it, too, was not a lie.

He stopped his gloved tirade on his beard and nodded, finality in his expression. "Then you will become Grey Wardens. There is no other choice. I fear that this is very quickly turning into a Blight. Without the soldiers to defend Ferelden, there is no hope for us all."

I made a face at the thought that I would have to drink what was taled to be a gruesome liquid rather than at the thought my life would be cut in two. I never wanted to get old, anyhow. Dying young was already on my priority list.

_Darkspawn blood,_ I thought vehemently, _how appetizing._

"You will join the rest of the new recruits tomorrow. I will send someone to have you fitted for armor, and then you will be tested to see just how good you are with a weapon as soon as possible."

And so it was that the quartermaster, for the first time since he had started supplying for the Grey Wardens, could not find a suitable piece of metal that would fit over either of our breasts. We eventually ended up being given thick leather instead of something more sturdy. "It'll meld to your figure with time and sweat," He had said.

It took him much longer than expected to get us fitted, and so by the time we had driven the poor man insane, it was already time to eat and retire for the night.

As Jamie and I were walking back to the kitchen and campfire after putting our new items away, I realized, "You know, I feel a ritual being formed. This campfire session will probably happen every night from now on, wont it?"

"Only if we're not killed by crazed animals and stinky darkspawn."

"True that."

Dinner was uneventful. Idle chit-chat and secretive glances between me and Jamie was mostly all that went on - we didn't want Alistair to know we would be joining him until he saw it for himself. Maybe the surprise would give him a seizure and we could all roll down laughing.

On the way back to our shared tent, the famed witchy kitchen lady was throwing out a supposedly dirty bucket of water. Why was this relevant? Because I remembered to move that damn bucket away from my resting place. No more wet mornings for me.


	5. Traumatic Experiences

I was pleased when I woke up the next morning and the buzzing confusion as to where I was only lasted very briefly compared to the past couple of days. I was even more pleased that I didn't wake up and obtain a new spill on my clothes. Sophie, however, was still determined to lick my face as I stirred, and the blankets still clung to my body without reservation.

I sat up, after untangling myself from the cloth monster known to heat me during the cold, and looked around the area, still unfamiliarized with it's look. A few seconds of panic were all I knew until I realized where I was. Awe overtook me once again as I reflected on where exactly I was dwelling.

Dragon Age.

Unbelievable.

"Time to get up," Jamie hollered as she barged into the tent. Once she saw I was already awake, her eyebrows rose. "So you _aren't_ dead. Amazing. I think the apocalypse is going to start soon, now, because of it."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm up. What an extraordinary occurrence." I stiffly got my poor old bones to cooperate with me and stood. My back ached.

"Well, I brought you your armor. Put it on and we'll head over to the bonfire. Duncan's waiting for us."

Butterflies lit in my stomach. We'd be going on an adventure today! How childish was I to think such a thing? And yet I couldn't stop myself from feeling excited.

I knew the threat of danger that was out there, but still I did not care. I had spent eleven years growing up in a fight for my survival - surely this couldn't be worse.

And it wasn't.

We got to the fire, Duncan gave us our instructions, and we were off. Between the six of us, only Jory and Alistair came back with a few bruises. The sole disappointing part of the expedition was that Alistair had known we were coming with - Duncan had apparently informed him of our addition beforehand. No surprised face for us.

"So... Tell me," I said later that night while we sat around the campfire yet again, "Why did Duncan get back so early? I thought he was set to return three weeks from now."

Alistair shrugged. "I'm not actually sure why, really. When I asked him, he told me, 'The roads appeared to have become shorter,' and when I asked him how, he said in a creepy ominous voice, 'there are many things we'll never know.'" The imitation he made of Duncan was hilarious.

I looked at Jamie, eyebrows drawn. She held a mirror of my expression.

"What's that look for? I see you two do it all the time. Am I missing something? Or do I want to know?"

I decided the fire would be the best thing to stare at. "You don't want to know." _Yet._ I added in my head.

/ / / / /

"There is an utmost urge to prepare you all for what is to come," Duncan's gravelly voice carried to all of us in the foreboding stone structure that was the Joining. "But we **cannot**. There can be no more time to prepare you. You must be ready - there will be trials, and sooner than we had once thought."

"The more I hear about this 'Joining', the less I like it." Jory breathed, apprehension and fear relevant in his voice.

I could swear I saw Daveth roll his eyes as he half-glared at the man, "Are you blubbering _again_?"

Jory seemed to ignore his comment. "Why all these damned tests? Have I not earned my place?"

"Maybe it's tradition. Maybe they're just trying to annoy you." Daveth sneered.

"Enough. Let us speak no more." Duncan's commands seemed to go unnoticed.

"My wife is in Highever, with a child on the way...! If I had been warned... It just doesn't seem fair." I briefly wondered if we might ever meet this wife he spoke of - be it intentionally or accidentally.

"Would you have come if they warned you? Maybe that's why they don't. The Wardens do what they must, right?" Daveth didn't seem in the least bit resentful.

"The Grey Wardens were founded during the First Blight, when humanity was on the verge of annihilation." Duncan continued calmly, taking their example and pretending as if they had never spoken. It was the interruption to explain the former questions, and everyone listened then, as if his voice were the loudest speaking tones in the world and we could do nothing less but focus on him.

"So it was that the first Grey Wardens drank darkspawn blood and mastered their taint."

Jory's eyes seemed to widen a fraction in horror. "We... We're going to drink the blood of those... those _creatures_?" He said the word as if it was the most terrifying thing to be heard of.

"As the first Grey Wardens did before us, as we first did before you. **This**," he emphasized, "is the source of our power and our victory."

If you thought about it, it was actually kind of sick. You know, drinking blood and gaining power from it. It made me feel like some kind of non-Edward Cullen vampire... Middle-Ages-knight version.

"Those who survive the Joining become immune to the taint. We can use it to sense the darkspawn and to slay the Archdemon." Alistair explained. I had not seen him so serious in the time we had spend with him than how he was now.

The woman who I had seen from earlier before - the woman who had been speaking with Alistair - pushed her way forward. "Then let's get this on with. I'm ready for whatever is needed."

I stared at the back of her head as Duncan told her, "We speak only a few words prior to the Joining. These words have been said since the first. Alistair," His solemn expression turned to our dirty-blond-haired boy, "If you would."

Alistair nodded curtly and bowed his head as if he were about to pray. We followed suit. "Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn." His words held a horrible weight to them; it felt as if we were suddenly emerged into an awful melancholy funeral for the fallen. "And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

I couldn't help but stare at Jory as he glanced nervously to the Joining chalice that held the darkspawn and archdemon's blood. Watching him do this felt like a disservice to the Grey Warden Joining chant, so I quickly bowed my head again and focused on Alistair's voice.

"And that one day... **We** shall join you." His voice sounded so heavy. It brought the mood down from serious to depressed.

Duncan closed his eyes as if what he was about to do would pain him in a way we could not understand. He then turned around and bared the silver chalice in both hands, carefully bringing it closer to us, as if it were filled up to the rim and any harsh movement would cause it to spill.

"Daveth," He called with authority, "Come forward."

He did.

I felt a darkness creep up on my spine and make me terribly fidgety. I was unable to hold my legs from beginning a tiny pacing within my few inches of space.

I watched as the attractive dark-haired man tipped the glass up, up, up... I thought the liquid might accidentally pour all over his face. It didn't.

He let it back down and Duncan took it from him. We all waited, breaths held.

Daveth glanced around at each of us as the seconds passed. Nothing happened. He seemed to relax and smile a bit, hopefulness in his expression, right before something akin to shock and anguish washed over him. His eyes widened and his body sporadically contorted into something unnatural for a human body. Coughs and quakes came from him, and I stepped back immediately in alarm that he might die all over me.

As shallow as that sounds, it really isn't. I knew I couldn't help him. I knew I could do nothing. I knew that he was going to die, even. But I felt if he were to get blood or some other bodily substance on me in his death, it would somehow be my fault. I would be to blame for the horrid end he met. It's a mite unexplainable as to why I would feel or think that, but that is what it was.

Finally, his eyes flashed to entire white, and then his body slumped to the ground, lifeless.

I felt something seep into my heart just then. It is not something that can be described. It is like the essence of his death crept into my soul.

Duncan seemed to feel something deep within him at this sight, too. His head wallowed down and he murmured, "I am sorry, Daveth."

Jory's panic was like a cue to his name.

"Step forward, Jory."

The man didn't do so. Instead, he frantically drew his sword and stumbled back, eyes wild and unreasonable. "I-I have a wife," He half-shrieked, "A child! Had I known...!"

"There is no turning back." Duncan's voice was void of any consolation; his word was the finality in the atmosphere. There was** no** choice. We either drank or we died.

Jory shook his head like an animal. "N-no! There is no glory in this,"

Duncan seemed hardened with his words and drew a curved short sword. Setting the chalice back down on the stone tombstone, he stepped forward, prepared to battle the wavering man.

Jory swung aimlessly at Duncan in fear and lack of strategy. The aged Grey Warden avoided him effortlessly and took the plunge into his heart.

I'll never forget the look on his face.

Horror. Agony. Hopelessness. Despair.

It was the look of a man who had lost everything in a mere second. And then it was covered with blood... his own. There could be no other way than to tell that it was traumatic.

"I am sorry." Duncan sounded dead along with him. As he pulled his weapon back, the sloshing crackle noise it made had me feeling like it was I he was retreating a foreign object from; not Jory.

And yet he still wasn't dead.

He fell to the ground with a mighty groan and clutched his wound as if he were an actor in a play. With one last fighting glimpse at the cold ground beneath him, his strength left him and he crashed on the floor. Blood slowly oozed from his chest and colored the area around us. I felt I drowned in it.

"But the Joining is not yet complete," I couldn't tell if it was my own nauseated stomach from the smell or if it was actually reality that made Duncan's voice seem robotic. "You are called upon to submit yourself to the taint; for the greater good."

He handed the chalice to the woman and I held my breath. Would she survive? Of course she would. She had to be the main character in all of this. Main character's can't die. Can they?

"So may it be." And with that, she took a large swig of the vile crimson liquid.

She followed a pattern of the same steps Daveth did, except she didn't choke as much. Soon she fell to her knees and then onto her face. And then it was my turn.

Duncan's eyes followed mine as he handed the chalice to me. It was the longest moment of my life.

I was unsure what he was trying to communicate with me with just his expression. Maybe he wasn't trying to communicate at all. Maybe it was just simple curiosity that held his gaze to mine for so long.

The giant cup was ice cold to my fingertips as it slid into my hands. It was heavy, too. Very heavy. I wondered if my fingers would fall off from the cold or if my arms would give out from the weight.

Before I lifted it to my lips, I said, in a bit of a shaky voice, "If I die, I just want you to know I have full life insurance. Jamie better get a lot of coins. Donate some to a community to start an anti-chantry, too. I hate church. It's too boring."

Better to become one of the deceased with a funny than to be a cold fish, eh?

There are no words to describe just how horrible darkspawn blood tastes.

It burned my throat as it went down, and when it was finally swallowed, it hit like a rock in my chest. The initial pain from the liquid seeming to go down too fast was bad enough, but once that died down just a little, it was like acid had been poured into my bloodstream and into all of my veins.

Places I didn't know had muscles and tendons suddenly lit on fire; a current of lava scorched all of my skill cells one by one from my scalp to my toes.

Everywhere - under my nails, beneath my eyelids, between my collarbone, the tips of my breasts - everything was being skinned off of me. I couldn't even scream. My throat was completely blocked and choked up; I couldn't breathe.

I nearly threw myself on the ground in my agony. The stone floor felt like billions of tiny sand grains being embedded into my flaming hot bones.

Just when I thought I would die, either from the pain or from the lack of oxygen, the world left me and complete and utter horrifying darkness greeted my scared and fragile mind.

/ / / / /

I woke up, for the first time in my life, with absolutely no hindrance whatsoever. I felt no sore ache in any part of my body. I felt no need to fall back asleep. I was more rested and prepared for anything than I had ever been; it was therefore stunningly outlandish when a hot cup of tea was sent into my face as I sat up.

"Finally, you're awake. I was afraid you'd never get up."

I looked around. I was in Jamie and I's shared tent. Nothing out of the ordinary there. And yet I felt something fuzzy in the back of my mind, like I should remember something important, but I didn't.

"It's been two days since the Joining." Ah. There it was. "Daveth and Jory have both been buried, and that woman with the long hair has been around and about longer than I have. You're the last to wake up." Jamie told me.

An onslaught of memories flooded back into my brain as the Joining's events replayed in my head. A feeling of foreboding and guilt dwelled within my heart.

I turned to look at her just then. I mean, really look at her.

She didn't look as tired as she did the last time I saw her. She looked refreshed, but exhausted. I wondered what she had been up to while I was out.

"Already you're going to be busy. Alistair said you would probably need as much rest as possible before you actually recovered, but there's a war meeting today that we're supposed to attend. You better get up and running before then."

I nodded. The morning fog I usually experienced just wasn't with me today. I pondered for a few seconds on it, but then let the subject drop from my thoughts.

There was a much **much** more pressing matter that needed tending to.

"Jamie," I moaned urgently, "I'm **STARVING**."

And that was when Alistair's eating habits suddenly made perfect sense to me. I felt an unstoppable impulse to eat the entire kitchen.

And believe me when I say I almost did.

/ / / / /

"We're going to have to set the march to an earlier time, Cailan. The darkspawn are getting more and more volatile even as we sit here." Loghain's voice was a grate upon my nerves; every syllable that came out of his mouth a scrape in my head.

Surprisingly enough, the Joining didn't really seem to have an effect on the rest of the world. No one appeared to notice, and neither me nor Jamie actually felt as if we should (even though we were the ones who had gone through it).

The blond king seemed to be in thought. I briefly speculated that this image I was seeing right then must have been a rare sight indeed.

"I wouldn't normally change plans, but I think you're right. More of our men will be picked off before we get to the real fighting." A glint of something akin to excited happiness shone in his eyes at his next statement, "No matter. It will simply bring the glorious battle closer to us!"

King Cailan. He seemed so naive and foolish to me, both in the game and in the books. And yet as I stood here in front of him, I couldn't dislike him one bit. He was charming and handsome and he inspired hope and respect within you just by looking at him. A true kingly demeanor, I thought.

Then I looked at Loghain.

Oh, Loghain.

I hated him when I first played the game. I hated him with a furious passion brighter than the suns of Tatooine. But then I read the books. After I had read to about the fourth page in one of them, I questioned why I was doing so. Reading his history made me actually like him. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

"You were Maric's best friend," I thought to myself, not really realizing I was speaking aloud, "How could you have become so low? How could you do this? To his son? To Rowan? You shame her. You shame_ him_." I think I could feel tears welling up.

Loghain, as well as everyone else, looked directly at me.

Jamie hit my arm, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

I rubbed where she had hurt and looked at her as if she was insane. "What do you mean?"

She just looked at Loghain.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Cailan asked politely.

I looked at him weird. "What was what?"

He seemed to accept that as an answer for finality. "I must have been hearing things. In any case, tomorrow we will make the march." His voice carried off into some unknown planet away from my attention just as I realized I must have spoken my thoughts.

While Duncan just gave me a sore look and everyone else seemed to accept it as a mistake, Loghain didn't look away from me. He looked between scowling and curious and I wondered if he had heard everything I had said.

Either way, that night I would be sleeping with both eyes open and some knives in my hands.

/ / / / / /

I couldn't sleep that night. Whether it was from the fear of Loghain suddenly bursting into my tent to slay me or the fear that I would awake to a war, I didn't know. I had nightmares for the short time I did sleep, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was squirming incessantly in my bedroll.

I finally decided, after about a half an hour that felt like a lifetime of rolling back and forth, that I would get up and do something if I wasn't going to sleep. I got up and headed over to the campfire that was still lit, not really knowing what I intended to do, but just wandering over there, anyway. I felt somewhat like a moth; driven towards the fire because of the simple fact it held light.

Ferelden didn't lie about being chilly. I felt as if I should turn back and grab a coat, but just as I had stopped to do so, I realized I didn't have one. So I continued on in the darkness towards the fire, seeking it's warmth to help me break through the evil clutches of cold atmosphere.

"Don't do that! You're stupid! Did you forget about Loghain?" That's what you are thinking right now. I can tell.

But it was the buttcrack of night time! I doubted any boogie man would stalk me this long just to kill my sorry ass.

Maybe I also wasn't afraid because there were night watches. But they don't count. They were there all along and never said a word to me or Jamie (well, that I knew of), even around the campfire. No witty banter for them.

As I sat down on an uncomfortable overgrown log closest to the fire, I began to contemplate my life. It was a late hour and the sentimentality of the world was getting to me.

Would the battle at Ostagar really be okay? Duncan would die. So would countless others. I had the power to prevent that. But would I? Would I be** brave** enough to prevent it? If I did so, there would be no adventuring with Alistair and the others. It would put a time-stop in numerous events that eventually would have to take place, anyway. But lives would be saved!

The confliction ate at me.

"Can't sleep?"

I jumped and whirled around at Jamie's voice, only to relax in the very next second as I realized it was just her. "Of course not," I hadn't meant for my voice to sound so bitter at her question. "We're going to be busting our asses tomorrow and god _knows_ if we'll die. Not to mention even if we do survive, everyone else won't."

She sat down next to me, cautiousness and a bit of ire in her eyes as she carefully responded, "I know, Tess," she sounded irritated; probably at my own tone of voice. "But we can't stop it. And even if we could, we shouldn't. This needs to happen."

I suddenly felt as if every single life in the camp we were in was on my shoulders. I fell forward and pressed my head into my hands. "Urrrgghh...!" The frustration was too built up inside me at the spontaneous amount of stress to form words.

"We just have to get through this. I don't think we're going to die tomorrow. I really don't feel like we would be here unless it was for a purpose, and somehow it doesn't seem like we've fulfilled it yet."

Her words brought me no comfort. I felt guilty for letting all the Grey Wardens die. I felt horrible and sickly deep in my gut because I wasn't doing anything to stop their gruesome fate.

Jamie shook my shoulder. "You have to get rest. There's no way we'll be able to_ stand up_ against any darkspawn if we're too tired to_ stand_ on our own feet."

And with that she led me back to our tent. I was restless until the sun began to rise, and then I fell into a short, shallow sleep.


	6. Ooops! It was an accident!

**I looovvve your reviews, dear readers. Please give them to me! Even if it's just a short, 'Keep writing.' It makes the chapters come easier and faster.**

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"Okay, Tessa. I can't let you sleep any longer. You need to get up." I felt Jamie's unrelenting grip shake me from a too-short slumber, and then felt her throw heavy leather-smelling garments onto my chest.

I was awake within the first seconds she had began her hold on me. Adrenaline rushed through my veins instantly and I sat up with the speed of someone who had only been pretending to sleep. "Got it," My voice betrayed the casual way I had woken up, grogginess clear in the hoarseness that was morning frog.

I was slipping into my leathers as quickly as I could and the room spun slightly - a side-effect from springing into action so vehemently.

"I knew you didn't sleep much so I waited as long as I could. But they are making the march as we speak and Duncan wants us to go with Alistair to the tower." Jamie explained.

It took a few minutes for her words to actually process. We were already armed and on our way to battle when I suddenly realized, "Wait, Duncan wants us to go help Alistair? Then that means..."

"That we're going to live, just like I said? Yeah. I know."

I shook my head partly to clear myself of the residue the morning left in my brain and partly to see if I was understanding reality as I really should. "This doesn't make any sense. Why are we so privileged?"

She sped up the pace and didn't even glance at me when she said, "What do you mean?"

She was ahead of me now, and I stared at the back of her heels as she led me to wherever we were supposed to go. "We were recruited. We survived the Joining. We get to go with Alistair. But why? We were just some people who ended up in clown clothes in the middle of Ostagar right out of nowhere."

I saw her shoulders shrug. "Who knows. All that matters is that we're here."

"I guess so." It was a placating statement more than anything.

A thought occurred to me then. "Wait a minute. If we're on our way to the tower, where's the main character? The Warden? That girl who also survived the Joining?"

Jamie seemed hesitant in her answer. I sped up the pace so I could match hers and looked at her expression, trying to will her to tell me. She sighed. "Okay, so maybe Cailan's original plan was to have us battle alongside him."

"_What? !_"

"Slow down. I'm not finished yet." She frowned. I gestured impatiently for her to continue. "I told him that there was too much opposition on the way for just two Grey Wardens to get there on their own. I convinced him that we would get there too late if you and I didn't go to help."

My eyebrows drew together in selfishness and a bit of panic. "Wait a minute - so what you're really getting at is that we COULD die here. Fate didn't decide for us to survive willingly."

She shrugged as if it didn't matter. "We'll make it. Even if we have to hide in corners."

Images of Jamie burning in fire and reaching towards me like a zombie with a melted face flashed in my mind. I shivered at the thought.

We didn't meet any opposition on the way to the tower, save for one lone darkspawn that we killed instantly. I thought her and I made a pretty good two-man team.

You know, except if that two-man team had to go into the tower. And fight. And die. All alone. No Flemeth to save us. And then the apocalypse happens. And then our souls go to some unknown Void. And then all the children of the world die. And then puppies and dogs and kittens and babies everywhere turn into little spider-like insects that eat everyone's spirits!

"Come on, we have to hurry. She and Alistair are probably almost to the ogre by now." Jamie interrupted my awful inner reverie. I shivered again.

Just looking up at the tower, you got the feeling that all life would die if it stepped inside. It was something straight from a Disney movie. Jamie had to basically drag me inside. I felt like a cat being dragged to a bath.

The interior was beyond frightening. People - soldiers - were strung on pikes of all kind like trophies of slaughter. Blood was everywhere. The smell of death was all there was. It made me feel sick. This much death shouldn't be happening. This much death shouldn't be real.

It was odd, though, because when we first got here, Jamie was the one who felt the need to puke. Now I was the one wondering if a corner could do with some new decoration - and my mother used to live in a morgue!

"Are we sure this is a good idea? Maybe we should hide in the trees in the Wilds until we're sure the fight is over."

She rolled her eyes. "Look at it this way: if you survive OR if you die, wouldn't you rather have Alistair be able to remember that you were there to fight with him?"

I contemplated her words. Would I really die for this man? No, he wasn't_ even_ a man. Not yet. He was still a boy not yet shaped by experience and time. That being said, how much would I sacrifice for this poor guy now that he was no longer a character on a computer screen? Sure, he was fun to be around, and life would _definitely_ suck a lot more without him. But was that enough to throw my life away?

Just then we turned a corner and entered a small hallway with a door at the end of it. Alistair and the woman from before were there as we turned, and they immediately whipped around at the sound of our footsteps to face us as if we were an enemy. Since it was only them that stood there, I assumed the soldiers that were supposed to have followed them were dead.

Their swords instantly were lowered and Alistair looked entirely too relieved to see us. "Thank the Maker you're here!" He said. The serious-feeling moment was ruined when he added, "These darkspawn really are more cranky than usual."

All it took was that and I knew it would be okay if I died right then. It was a game, anyway, right? What did I have to lose?

We charged into the next room with all the vigor of a small army, ready for battle. The room we entered was larger than I had expected it to be, and far more empty than the previous rooms we had gone through.

No one was here.

I turned around in circles with my arrow drawn, wondering if something would pop out from the shadows and suddenly eat me.

I wasn't too far off.

A deep growl that sounded more monster than animal came from behind us, and I twirled around quick enough to break air. We all watched in horror as the most ugly and terrifying thing I had seen in this world marched up to greet us. The stone shook beneath my feet with each heavy step this enemy took, and I stared up at a twelve foot bucket of strength and muscle with horns.

The skin of the ogre looked rotten and aged. It's eyes were the color of the most beautiful color purple I had ever seen, and I couldn't help but think it was unfair that such a wretched creature should be privileged with such ravishing irises.

It crouched down as if prepared to lunge and then opened it's mouth wide. A terrible screech left it's fanged jaw. The intensity of the roar was loud enough to send waves through the air at us, and it nearly knocked me backwards.

It lowered it's horns and took one step forward and that was all I needed to know that it was about to charge. I ran quicker than I think I ever had before in a frantic hope to live, almost throwing myself to the walls to dodge such a death blow.

The ogre smashed it's head into a wall and it's horns got stuck. As it began pulling and struggling to be set free, Alistair and the Warden started stabbing and slashing everywhere they could. Jamie send arrows into the back of it's head, but all that seemed to do was create flesh wounds that would harm it only a little.

It didn't take me long to figure out the best way to attack - hide in the darkest part of the room and find somewhere to crawl into for retreat should the ogre come near.

The arms and legs of this beast were the most fleshy parts. Arrows would stick well in the shoulders or back of the knee, but beyond that, they were almost useless. I wondered how much strength you would have to wield for a sword to be properly embedded in such a monster like this.

I tried repeatedly to get an arrow into it's neck, but every time I failed. Finally I decided enough was enough. I got out of my hiding place and set forth to come right up and shoot it beneath it's jaw. If it would end this, I would gladly take home an injury or two. I just wanted to be out of this tower.

I aimed with more precision than time allowed. Just as I was ready to shoot the arrow, a pebble hindered my feet and I tripped slightly. The arrow plunged from it's place - an accident misfire - and just at the same time, the woman from before simultaneously jumped up to stab it's collarbone. She succeeded, and the beast roared again in pain and imminent death. However, I had shot the arrow directly where she had decided to move. Just at the moment she had killed the creature, my arrow drove straight into her temple. She was dead instantly; her and the beast became limp together. The ogre ended up smashing her corpse into the ground as it fell on top of her.

I screamed in horror at my own doing. Alistair's face was that of widened... well, everything. Eyes, mouth, nostrils. Everything was just kind of agape and hanging.

"YOU KILLED THE WARDEN!" Jamie shrieked, running up alongside the felled enemy who's body contained our previous ally.

I dropped my weapons and pressed my palms to the sides of my head, as if my skull would pop open and I needed my hands there to contain it. "It-it was an accident!" I stuttered.

Jamie took up Alistair's gaping expression and just gawked at what had happened.

"I didn't mean to!" I cried again, tears brimming up painfully in my eyes.

"You killed the Warden..!" Jamie screeched again, this time more quietly.

"I tripped! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" I sobbed.

Jamie turned around to just gaze at me in total unbelief. "You tripped!? You...The Warden...!"

I took to the ground and just sat there and cried forever. The dumbest mistake of history? Yep. I made it.

Alistair walked, very numbly, over to where we were supposed to have lit the beacon. His mouth was still open and his eyes didn't seem to see anything at all. He stared at the tools for lighting for a moment before muttering, "I don't even know what to say." It was an admission to something we probably all felt. "Misfires happen all the time, but.." He shook his head and lit the stack of hay on fire.

I watched as the weedy plant burst into flame, just like all hopes I had beforehand that I wouldn't have to do all the really awful dirty work. The person who would do that for me was now dead. By my bow, no less.

At the same moment Jamie gave me a hand and lifted me back onto my feet, a thundering crash came from the door we had entered in. I grabbed my weapons and prepared to go into battle again.

"I can't believe you killed her by tripping," Jamie snickered, apparently over her shock. "I thought_ I_ would be the one to kill her on accident. I'm the one with the bad luck, after all."

I looked at her and shook my head. I couldn't believe she found this humorous.

...

Okay, maybe I could. I didn't really know the woman, in all reality. I think I was probably more distressed over the fact I had killed someone innocent and would have to take the blame rather than because of any moral. I mean,_ now _who would go in my place to kill the broodmother? I wasn't looking forward to that. Besides. Killing someone by tripping on a pebble? Not really the most famous way to end a life. I had no doubt we'd be laughing about this someday soon.

It all happened so fast.

The door was smashed down like a piece of paper being torn away almost effortlessly. I stepped backwards a few paces, the miniature army charging us making me feel far too claustrophobic and caged in. I glanced around in panic; there was nowhere to run or hide or escape.

Tens of darkspawn ran into the room with bloodlust in their beady eyes and rage in the hilts of their swords. I shot down at least four that were on the forefront. Jamie took down six, and Alistair charged right back at them, battle evidently coursing through his blood again. Eight more fell to his sword, and sixteen more came to join us in the fight.

"We're being overrun! We'll never get out of here!" I cried to Jamie, a few feet away from me. Three darkspawn had taken to coming a bit too close to her, so I shot two of them in the eye. She took down the last one.

"What did you expect? A walk in the park?" She hollered back.

I humphed and continued to kill darkspawn after darkspawn. They never seemed to end.

It didn't take long for me to run out of arrows. I took to waltzing around the room and reusing the ones I had spent.

"Ah!" I heard Alistair's pained and somewhat shocked cry just as he fell.

"No!" I shouted. I attempted to go and aid him, but several darkspawn leaped into my path and prevented me from doing so. I felt terrible and hopeless; unable to lend a hand to someone who needed me direly.

Four hurlocks surrounded Jamie in a surprisingly strategic plan to outnumber her. I took one of the small throwing knives I had and stabbed one in the back of the head, taking back the knife when I was sure he would no longer be a problem.

We managed to kill enough to keep us safe for a few moments, but that was the end of it.

My arm was sore. I didn't know if I could pull the string back any more, even if I _was_ pent-up with adrenaline.

"Jamie," I gasped, unable to get a good breath of air in my lungs. "I'm tired." My words ended up like a whimper.

We were back to back in hopes we would be able to see all angles, but it ended up being more like a leaning contest. We needed the other to just be able to stand up.

"Me too," She answered. I knew she had to be. I had seen her smashing faces with the butt end of her crossbow - not to mention, we both had to constantly move around in order not to be killed.

"I'm afraid," I confided in her, "If I go unconscious, what if I don't wake up? Worse, what if I do? What if this has all been a dream?"

She stuck another bolt into a darkspawn's eye. "Then we'll be fine."

It was the finality, the assuredness in her voice, that made me calmer than I should have been.

We would be fine. Of course we'd be fine. What could possible happen?

I was out of arrows. There was no way to get any more, either. We were trapped even worse than we had been before. All the darkspawn had long since decided to ignore Alistair, and now we were the main event.

I left Jamie's back and roundhouse kicked an opponent that came too close. I took the sword he had in his hand and stabbed his head with it. Easy enough. But still, I didn't know how to use such a weapon. I swung wildly at all opposition around me, not really knowing what else I could do.

The last thing I saw before a darkspawn finally came up and hit me in the back of the head was Jamie. She was overtaken by the numbers and fell quickly. I tried to scream her name just to see if she was alright, but the world was getting fuzzier and fuzzier. I crawled with all my might to her and sprawled my body over hers in the hope my armor might serve her as a shield. If they would take her life, they would go through me first. I would rather die in her place.

The last thought I remember having was: please be alive.

Whether it was for me, or for Jamie, or for Alistair, or for us all, I did not know.


	7. Time to start our adventure!

**Sorry this chapter came in so late today, I was super duper busy and didn't have a chance to upload. Hopefully it won't happen again. At least not for awhile.**

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I woke up and knew exactly where I was. There was no disorientation. There was no immediate panic. There was only an unfamiliar sense of calm that seemed out of place in the chaotic world I suddenly felt to be in.

Maybe it was because I had actually woken up at all. That in itself seemed a miraculous achievement.

The only thing that had me worried the exact moment I was awake was Jamie.

Where was she? Was she okay?

I sat up quickly and then immediately regretted it. I groaned loudly and laid back down instantly, holding an arm around my midsection. It felt like a metal coil had wrapped itself around my stomach when I had tried to get up, and it pulled tighter the more I wasn't laying down. I realized almost right away that I had a bandage wrapped around my midsection and that I had no top on. From what I could feel, I was wearing woolen trousers, but that was it.

"Ah. Your eyes finally open. Mother shall be pleased," A slightly conniving but smooth and seductive voice observed. I recognized the prideful tone as if I had grown up with it. Morrigan.

Lo and behold, there she was, coming right up next to the side of the bed I was in. I had seen her in the quest for the Grey Warden documents, but it wasn't up close and it was fleeting, as well. Plus, there had been no social interaction between her and I.

What was she like in person, you may wonder?

Pff. There's no other words.

Enchanting.

The sway of her hips as she walked, the upward curve of her enticing lips, the confidence and mystery in her eyes, the disheveled hair with the occasional twig. She smelled of the forest; all flowers and trees and nature in itself. I loved the smell of outside, so she seemed to be the most amazing perfume in the world.

"I know, I'm awake," I said as if it were the most outlandish and uncommon thing to ever occur, "It's a miracle!" The sudden exclamation made the coil in my stomach tighten again, and I gasped shallowly partly in hopes it would stop the pain and partly because it was a natural reaction. "Or is it magic?" I wheezed.

She chuckled almost seemingly in malevolence. "Oh, assuredly, it _must_ be a miracle. Is that not what your Chantry would tell you? Or would they simply reject the allowance of magic in itself? Perhaps both."

I stared at her blankly for endless minutes, sorting through all the things that could have possibly made her say that. I came up with a void. "The Chantry? What does that have to do with anything? I despise the Chantry, just by the way."

She seemed surprised and yet so sure of herself. I thought she might be the only one who could be so contradictory and yet so ... not... all at the same time."Oh? Judging by your appearance, one would assume differently. You have their insignia on your chest." She raised an eyebrow, "Or do my eyes deceive me?"

I gaped at her. "I have a what now?!" I removed the thin shawl that had been laid on my body as if it were a poison about to kill me.

She wasn't being honest, right? It had to be a joke. What was she even talking about!?

Sure enough, planted right in-between my breasts was a seemingly tattooed mark of the Chantry. It looked like it was actually integrated into my skin. It was beyond disturbing enough to have a panic attack.

I swiped at it once, twice, three times before I realized it probably was not going away.

"No! How did this get here? Get it off of me!" I shrieked, ignoring the coil in my stomach and sitting up at once.

She seemed alarmed at my reaction and took a step backwards. Her fingers twitched and I wondered if she wanted to reach for her staff.

I swung my feet over the side of the bed and stood. My legs were a bit wobbily, so I briefly leaned on the bottom of the bedpost for balance. I looked around frantically for anything to possibly help get the new discovery to no longer exist - especially on me.

"It wasn't here before the battle. At least.. I don't think it was..! Where did it come from?"

On a side note, I will rename that had no shirt on. However, I felt no problem baring my breasts to her. She had probably already seen them when bandaging my stomach and cleaning me up, so it didn't really matter.

On another side note, my insides didn't hurt nearly as bad when I was standing up than when I was_ sitting_ up.

Jamie burst into the hut just then. "You're alive!" was the only thing I heard before I was swept into a hug. Unexpected as it was and as frantic as I may have been, Jamie's hugs weren't really often occurrent, so I naturally hugged her back as tightly as I could. Thankfully, it didn't hurt the ache in my organs.

"I should be saying that to _you_!" Thoughts of the insignia on my chest were gone now as the previous worry I had felt for her safety came rushing back to me.

She pulled back enough to look at me, and I thought maybe she might cry for a second, but she didn't. "I should have known you weren't dead. I can't get rid of you to save my life, can I?"

I smiled, all good intentions and love taken out of the undertones in her voice instead of actually hearing her words. "Of course not. You don't think you'd get off_ that_ easily, do you? What do you take me for, anyway? A _half-_committed stalker? I'd come back from the dead to see you annoyed!"

She laughed and smacked me on the arm. "I was worried, you dork." Then she looked down, then up again, then gave me a dirty look. "Tessa." It was a question, but it was said as a statement.

"Yes?" I supplied.

"Where's your shirt."

I burst into a fit of giggles and shrugged. The giggling hurt, so it didn't last long. But it felt good to laugh. "Would you believe me if I said a spider ate it?"

She glanced at Morrigan, who was still standing there beside us, then looked back to me. "Maybe."

I thought maybe I had spoken too much and made the witch suspicious of me, but instead, Morrigan seemed taken aback and slightly offended. "T'was not_ I_ who took your beloved garments. T'was my mother. They needed changed."

I shrugged and let go of the semi hold I had on Jamie. "Well... Could I have them back? By the way, thank you, Morrigan. For the help, I mean." I felt as if I were stumbling over my words.

It was like she didn't know what to say. "Well, I... You are... Welcome, of course. But t'was my mother who did most of the work, not I." Feeling an obvious need to change the subject, she added, "The suspicious dim-witted one you were with the first time we met is outside. He lives, as well. Mother asked to see you when you awoke."

I glanced at Jamie. My mental question was: did you already speak to Flemeth?

She answered with a: I don't know anything yet.

I took that and translated it to, 'She's probably spoken with her, but it was either nothing more than super idle chit-chat, or extremely short-lived.'

"Okay. I'll go speak with her. But first... I'll probably need something to cover my unmentionables?"

Morrigan glanced at the door. "I believe your garments are hanging to dry," She gestured towards the bed, "You could wear the shawl mother gave you."

I looked at the brown cloth and then shrugged, throwing it on and wrapping it around me. "Sounds good enough. Thank you again."

She seemed nonchalant about my second thanks. "I will stay here and prepare something to eat."

A slightly muttered, 'okay' was all the response I gave as I walked outside. The first thing I saw once the bright light receded to hurt my eyes was Alistair. He was pacing back and forth, stress on his brow and hand massaging his temples. I wondered what he was thinking of.

At the sound of the door opening again, he turned around. The look on his face was one of a mixture of relief and desperation; it was like my sudden appearance was a last call for hope and he could only frantically grab onto it as a lifeline. "You're alive," He breathed despairingly.

He didn't look like he had slept for days; a side effect of depression, I supposed. It couldn't have been long enough for him to be sleep-deprived. "How long was I out?" I asked, just to make sure.

"Two days, I think." Jamie answered for me, even though I had obviously been looking at Alistair. I nodded to her and then looked back at the aforementioned Grey Warden. "Well..." My eyebrows creased. Just looking at him brought down my mood. I wondered if we would ever go back to being silly and fun again. "Are you okay?" I asked, genuine concern in my tone.

His eyes became redder and he answered, heart-brokenly, "They're all gone." His tone was soft. If there was any other adamant noise right then, I don't think I would have heard him. "Duncan, the Grey Wardens... Everyone." He shook his head.

I felt horrible. I hadn't done anything to stop this. I had the option to do something and I didn't. "Alistair, I... I'm so sorry," My voice cracked on the last word even though I wasn't about to cry. I just could hardly speak. Which, if you know me, isn't really something that happens often. I always have something to say, even if it's stupid.

I felt like he really needed a hug. But I couldn't really give him that. For one thing, if I opened my arms, the shawl would also open and I would expose my chest to him. For another thing, if he_ didn't_ need a hug, it would make it awkward for him. But that couldn't stop the voice in my head that told me to go give him one. In a compromise between the voice and between physics, I asked him, "Can I give you a hug?"

His face crumpled up slightly at the question, and he almost automatically stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me like a four-year-old boy who had lost his toy. I half-expected him to start bawling and ask for a refund. I was glad that I could be of comfort to him, though. That was me, mother hen to the rescue.

Now that my shawl was perfectly secure between his armor and my skin, I slid my arms from underneath it and hugged him back. Nothing was exposed and everybody won. I just had to make sure to pull my arms back before he did.

I let my chin rest on the bottom of his shoulder plate (which was mighty uncomfortable, by the way) and rubbed his back in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry, Alistair. I'm sorry. It's going to be alright. I'm here. Jamie's here. You're not alone." I hoped my words got through to him.

Just then more footsteps approached us. "Well, well," A poisonously attractive voice full of twisted gusto said, coming near to us. I couldn't see past Alistair's head on my left, and I couldn't see over his shoulder in the front. The only view I had was to the right, and whoever had just spoken wasn't over there. "What have we here? I leave for just a few moments, and when I come back, the Grey Wardens are already beginning to repopulate!"

I made a face at her voice and let Alistair go. I don't think he was really ready for the hug to be over, but I could already tell that the new person's presence made him extremely uncomfortable.

I almost called her by her name immediately as I saw her, but I didn't. Secretive eyes, wild hair, a deceivingly old womanly body, and a twisted smirk made up the enigma that was Flemeth. I was enraptured instantly. "You must be the one who saved us," I said, bowing my head slightly. "Thank you so much."

She laughed. "Ah, yes, I remember you now. The one with the manners - from before."

My lips twitched upward. "Is there any way we could possibly repay you?"

She laughed again, this time more fervently. I think she truly found me funny, be it just because I looked pretty impish standing there with my face on or because I just seemed a lesser of a being to her. "All that I wish you to do is what you are meant to do."

What we're meant to do? And what exactly is that, really? Now that the Warden is dead, shouldn't that change things? This was never our destiny... was it?

As if she had heard my thoughts, she answered them, "It has always been the Grey Warden's duty to unite the lands against the Blight. Or did that change when I wasn't looking?"

I looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "I dunno. It might have. Things do seem to change pretty quickly around here."

Jamie rolled her eyes and Flemeth laughed yet again. To reply for me, my dark-haired companion said, "The land is hardly united anymore, with what Loghain did."

Alistair's engine roared at that. "And that just doesn't make any sense! Why would he do this?!"

Flemeth's eyebrow raised and she nodded in a type of calm acceptance of his answer, much in comparison to a professor would in college after a student had asked a very intelligent query on the subject being studied. "Now** that** is a good question. Men's hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature. Perhaps he believes the Blight is an army he can outmaneuver. Perhaps he does not see that the evil behind it is the true threat."

_Well, of course he doesn't. He has never seen a Blight before. But he** has** seen the Orlesian empire rising up and taking over his home. Darkspawn would seem like a foolish battle to him; something that doesn't need dealt with. Prissy backstabbing nobles in too-tight clothing that are ready to take over the world, however..._

"The archdemon." Alistair spat out in realization. He seemed to just now understand that we were in a Blight. I realized then that it probably wasn't as obvious to the people who didn't know.

"Did she already tell us her name?" I whispered to Jamie. She nodded, so I supposed she probably learned it from her talk with Flemeth in the beginning and then she relayed the name to Alistair. Flemeth probably thought Jamie had also told me her name, so I guessed introductions were out of the picture.

"We need to contact the other Grey Wardens." Jamie told them. I realized the comments she had made so far were right out of the game. I briefly wondered if she had memorized them.

"Cailan already summoned them." Alistair told us, shaking his head a bit. "They'll come if they can. But I expect Loghain has already taken steps to stop them. We must assume they won't arrive in time." He looked to be in thought.

"Will you help us fight this Blight, Flemeth?" Jamie's voice seemed more and more monotone with every time she replied. It was actually kind of creepy.

"Me? I am just an old woman who lives in the Wilds. I know nothing of Blights and darkspawn."

_I highly doubt that._

"Well..." Alistair said, regaining all of our attention, "whatever Loghain's insanity, he obviously thinks the darkspawn are a minor threat. We must warn everyone this isn't the case."

Flemeth raised an eyebrow again, this time in slight condescendence. "And who will believe you? Unless you think to convince this Loghain of his mistake?"

Alistair seemed outraged at her words, though I knew the frustration wasn't actually at her. He threw his hands into the air helplessly, "He just betrayed his own king! If Arl Eamon knew what he did at Ostagar, he would be the first to call for his execution!"

For some reason, his words brought on a random thought:

If we were to survive all the way through this, would summer be over by then? It would be very interesting (and a bit hilarious) if I could go up to Loghain at the Landsmeet, and with a very serious face tell him, "I know what you did last summer."

I snickered to myself at the thought.

"Then we should go to him for help." Jamie declared.

"I suppose..." Alistair seemed to back off a little from his previous faith in the Arl; taking time to think things through more clearly, "Arl Eamon wasn't at Ostagar; he still has all his men. And he was Cailan's uncle." The last two words were nearly snarled out. "I _know_ him. He's a good man, respected in the Landsmeet." I swear I could see a little lightbulb pop up above his head with his next statement, "Of course! We could go to Redcliffe and appeal to him for help!"

_Didn't he just restate what Jamie had already said?_ I wondered if he was actually listening to us.

"Such determination. How intriguing." Flemeth observed.

"I still don't know if Arl Eamon's help would be enough. He can't defeat the darkspawn horde by himself!" Alistair's statement was enough to gratify the factuality of my assumption. He was thinking out loud, not speaking in a group.

"Have you forgotten about the treaties?" I asked him.

His eyes lit up in recognition. "Of course! The treaties! Grey Wardens can demand aid from dwarves, elves, mages, and other places! They're obligated to help us during a Blight!"

"I may be old, but dwarves, elves, mages, this Arl Eamon, and who knows what else... this sounds like an army to me." Flemeth said.

Alistair really seemed to be hopeful now. "So can we do this? Go to Redcliffe and these other places and... build an army?"

I didn't want to squash his new faith in the documents and our allies, but I also didn't want him to get so excited and then think it would be a walk in the park, either. "It's not going to be that easy, Alistair." It was a cold bucket of reality to be thrown onto his face, but it felt necessary.

Flemeth laughed again. "And when is it ever?"

Again it seemed our words were lost on him. He continued, as if we had never said a thing, "It's always been the Grey Wardens duty to stand against a Blight. And right now, we're the Grey Wardens."

Flemeth also seemed to feel a need to bring him back to planet Earth. "So you are set, then? Ready to be Grey Wardens?"

Jamie got to open her mouth before I did. "Yes. Thank you for everything, Flemeth."

She shook her head, a smile on her lips. "No, no. Thank **you.** You are the Grey Wardens here, not I." She turned a bit to her hut, as if she were expecting Morrigan straight from the get-go. "Now... before you go, there is yet one more thing I can offer you."

And lo and behold, almost exactly after that, the wicked witch of the Wilds stepped out of the muddy straw house. "The stew is bubbling, Mother dear. Shall we have two guests for the eve, or none?"

As if it were normal conversation, Flemeth answered leisurely, "The Grey Wardens are leaving shortly, girl. And you will be joining them."

Morrigan flashed a smile of mock sympathy. "Such a shame-" Her words were cut short as she realized what her mother had actually said. She turned to her, eyes alarmed, _"What?"_

"You heard me, girl. That last time I looked, you had ears!" Flemeth laughed yet again. I thought she was a cheery fellow, even if she was all-powerful and mighty.

"She does? I thought the branches in her hair ate them." I feigned trying to get a better look at her hair. Flemeth's laughter fired up again and Morrigan shot me a dirty look.

_Morrigan disapproves -5, I suspect. But I want to have Flemeth's approval more than I do Morrigan's. And I'm sure I'll have time to make up for the comment later._

Jamie also shot me a look. "I think that's a wonderful idea," She said in a tone that seemingly explained I was akin to a disobeying child.

Morrigan ignored us and looked directly at Flemeth. "Have I no say in this?" She demanded.

The old woman stuck up her nose just the slightest bit. "You have been itching to get out of the Wilds for years. Here is your chance." She looked at us, "As for you, Wardens, consider this repayment for your lives."

My eyebrows shot up. "Taking along a helpful companion is OUR repayment to YOU? It seems you are just giving us what we need left and right."

She laughed. "Oh, I suspect you will find her more than a handful enough to sufficiently feel payment is no longer due."

I smiled and shrugged; a useful gesture no matter what era or community you're in.

Alistair wasn't as peachy keen as the rest of us, as you could probably imagine. "Err... Not to... Look a gift horse in the mouse, but... Won't this _add_ to our problems? Out of the Wilds, she's an apostate."

Flemeth disapproves. "If you do not wish help from us illegal mages, young man, perhaps I should have left you on that tower."

Alistair's reluctance shone through his every single word. "Point. Taken."

Morrigan, meanwhile, seemed almost on the verge of a panic attack. "Mother... This is not how I wanted this. I am not even ready-"

"You_ must_ be ready." Flemeth deadpanned. "Alone, these two must unite Ferelden against the darkspawn. They need you, Morrigan. Without you, they will surely fail, and all will perish under the Blight. Even I."

Morrigan's expression was that of outspoken contemplation. "I..." She sighed, "Understand."

Now that her daughter was taken care of, Flemeth turned to us again. "And you, Wardens? Do _you_ understand? I give you that which I value above all in this world. I do this because you** must** succeed."

That really couldn't be stressed enough. "I understand, Flemeth. We'll take good care of your daughter. AND Ferelden." I added as an afterthought.

She chuckled. "Huh! Good."

Morrigan sighed in a type of resentful morose. "Allow me to get my things, if you please."

I nodded, a smile on my lips, and just watched as she went inside. It took probably two minutes later that I realized, with a start, "Oh! That's right! I need my things, first! Are my clothes done drying?"

Flemeth nodded contemplatively, chortling almost under her breath. "Yes, I suppose clothes _are_ something useful in such a venture as the one you are about to embark on. I shall retrieve them from the stream."

I smiled again and stared after her this time as she drifted away. "You know, I really like Flemeth." I told Jamie absent-mindedly.

She shrugged lazily. "Eh. I guess she's okay."

Morrigan appeared out of the hut just then. If she looked any more like a spiteful teenager being forced into a summer camp by her mother, I would assume she actually was. "I am at your disposal, Grey Wardens, " Her voice was in poorly-concealed mock respect, "I suggest a village north of the Wilds as our first destination. 'Tis not far and you will find much you need there."

A silence followed her words. I was kind of waiting for someone else to say something, but no one ever did. Maybe they just didn't know_ what_ to say.

In an impatient glare, she continued, "_Or,_ if you prefer, I shall simply be your silent guide. The choice is yours."

I waved my hands in front of me as if to prevent a war from breaking out. "Oh, no! No, I'd prefer you just speak whatever's on your mind. The village to the north is fine. I don't think anyone really knew what to say, is all." I wondered if she even understood my last statement.

Laughter from behind us brought our attention back to the returning Flemeth. "You will regret saying that."

As she handed me my leathers, under garments, boots, and small clothes, Morrigan snidely commented, "Dear, sweet mother, you are_ so_ kind to cast me out like this. How fondly I shall remember this moment."

Flemeth had jubilance in her voice as she answered, "Well, I always said if you want something done, do it yourself." She raised an eyebrow a little and looked to be off in some other world of thought as she added, "Or hear about it for a decade or two afterwards."

Alistair had the worst pouty-boy face on and his squirming seemed to pick up.

I cocked my head a bit, "Yes, Alistair?"

His eyebrows and lips scrunched together in unison before he complained, "I just... Do you really want to take her along because her _mother_ says so?"

I snickered at him. "Well, you forget: her _mother_ is Flemeth. Beyond that, even if she wasn't, we need all the help we can get."

He seemed defeated. "I guess you're right. The Grey Wardens have always taken allies where they could find them."

Morrigan stuck up her nose. "I am so_ pleased_ to have your approval."

I snickered again. "Okay, we should probably start moving before a cat fight breaks out." I turned to Flemeth, "Can I change clothes in your hut?"

"Of course."

Let me tell you: getting on armor with a coil in your stomach and bruises all over your body is not the funnest thing in the world. But all things considered, bruises would be the least of my problems to continue for the next few months following.


	8. Enter: The Lothering

**This chapter is early today to try and make up for yesterday. c:**

* * *

The trip out of the Wilds was scenic if not enjoyable. It was a DAMNED long hike, but at least the smell wasn't bad and the birds seemed cheery enough. It was a nice change from being around blood all the time.

Or at least that's what it felt like. It felt like my world had suddenly been plunged into a dark pond of war and suffering. Sure, I was used to the suffering part. But so much death... That was unnatural.

"Are we going to get horses somewhere along the way?" I huffed about an hour into being on the road. "'Cause, I mean, I gotta say. All this walking just ain't doin' it for me." I had energy-induced asthma and I doubted inhalers were handy.

A barking in the distance cut off whatever response I may have received.

"Oh, no," I moaned loudly. I was out of breath, tired, hungry, and not all too keen to be striding into battle so soon. I knew the Mabari that was headed our way meant a fight was coming on. At least, I supposed it was a Mabari. I didn't know how Jamie's dog being here affected things in that matter.

I looked around, hands on my knees for a break, and then decided hiding in the nearest bush wouldn't be such a bad idea. I did so.

While the rest of the party (including Jamie) went to work on killing whatever darkspawn may have appeared, I sat down at the bottom of a tree and savored being able to take a break, even if it hurt my innards (you didn't forget the coil, did you?). I wondered if Alistair would be able to carry me. If not, I then wondered if Morrigan's magic could be used to create a flying carpet. If worst came to worst, I was sure Jamie could just drag my limp body around.

I took off the backpack Jamie had given me before we left, hoping there might be some kind of rations in it. Apparently Flemeth had given both her and Alistair their own tidy packs with herbs and dried vegetables and other things in them. I hoped the backpack Jamie gave me had the same things.

I set down my bow and adjusted my quiver so it wouldn't be in the way. I was glad my main weapons were able to be saved, even if the throwing knives were long lost to the darkspawn.

Just as I had opened the pack, I was startled almost out of my small clothes when Jamie appeared right next to me. "BOO!" She cried.

"AAH!" I fell over.

She laughed like a maniac. "That's what you get for chickening out!"

I brushed the dirt off my clothes and stuck out a lip. "I did _not_ chicken out. I just wasn't up to fighting more grotesque creatures yet."

A supremely happy (and bloodied) Sophie came out from behind Jamie's ankles, panting and smiling away. Considering she wasn't limping or crying, I doubted the blood on her fur was her own.

I shook my head at her dog. "How did you even survive? You're so tiny compared to the rest of the animals around here." I supposed her appearance meant no Mabari hound would be joining us.

Jamie raised her chin proudly. "She's_ my_ dog. Of course she'll survive. She takes after me. I'll bet you she kicked all the other wild animals butts! She bit the happy place of one of the darkspawn just a few seconds ago. I didn't even think they would have balls, but apparently they do."

I took my pack back and began rummaging around in it again. "Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm starving. I haven't even eaten today. We should have had some of that stew before we left."

She rolled her eyes. "You can't wait to eat until we get to Lothering?"

I stared at her blankly as if she should understand the obviously drastic matter at hand. "Jamie. Lothering could be hours away. I am hungry. I want food. Food makes the tummy happy."

She leaned nonchalantly against the tree I was sitting at. "Then munch on something on the way. The rest of us aren't tired. Plus, you didn't even help with the battle just now."

I groaned. "Okay, fine. But my feet hurt. If I get blisters, I'm blaming it on you."

She rolled her eyes yet again. "Do you want some cheese with that whine?"

I snickered. She knew I complained just to bug her.

/ / / / / /

About two to three hours after that little excursion, we arrived, finally, at the bridge in the entrance of Lothering. I nearly ran to it in joyous celebration when I saw the brick haven in the distance when we were approaching it. The sun was just on the verge of sinking below the trees in the far distance, so I supposed we had better get into Lothering and set up a place for the night, lest we end putting up tents in the dark.

I stopped, of course, when I saw a figure stand from a box up ahead.

"Oh crap. I forgot there were bandits. Uggghh." I was about 25 feet ahead of everyone else - if I walked in alone at that moment, I would probably die.

A little bit stiffly, I walked backwards, keeping my eyes on the bridge ahead and receding back to the rest of the group for safety. As long as I got back to them, the most worrying thing that could happen is that I could trip on a rock and kill myself (since apparently, tripping ends lives).

Eventually, we all got to the bandits_ together_.

"Well, look here, gentleman! More travelers to attend to. I'd guess the pretty one is the leader."

I smiled teasingly to Jamie, "They must be referring to me."

She just raised her eyebrows and looked at me as if to say: you're an idiot.

I snickered at her reaction and turned to the thieves and murderers in front of me just as one of the more asinine people in the group told the first man, "Uhh.. They don't look much like them others, you know. Dehh... Maybe we should just let these ones pass..."

The first one waved his hand at the man ravenously as if he couldn't be more wrong. "Nonsense! Greetings, travelers!"

Alistair narrowed his eyes at them and spoke quietly to us, "Highwaymen. Preying on those fleeting the darkspawn, I suppose."

Morrigan stuck up her nose as if she were above such nonsense. It wasn't a snooty attitude, it was one that an indifferent person in society might have. "They are fools to get in our way. I say teach them a lesson."

The man who was leading this horrible idea seemed to be mock offended. "Now is that any way to greet someone? Tsk, tsk, tsk. A simple ten silvers and you're free to move on."

I crossed my arms. "And I suppose the bow on my shoulder and the quiver on my back would not persuade you to think otherwise?"

The dumb one who had put in his two cents from before hit the other mans shoulder as if a remarkable epiphany had been made. "What did I tell you! No wagons, and this one looks dangerous."

Dangerous? Well, not that it was necessarily completely accurate, but it sounded kind of cool.

The first man glared at the other one. "The toll applies to everyone, Hanric. That's why it's a toll and not, say, a refugee tax."

The man named Hanric bobbed his head up and down as if he had just understood something vitally important. "Oh! Right. Even if you're not refugee, you still gotta pay."

I shook my head at them slowly and put a hand on my hip. "Look. How about this: you go find some other place to stand and look ugly, and we won't rip the skin right off of your ungodly faces. Sound like a good deal to you?"

He first man didn't even seem phased by my clear insults. He grabbed two dual knives from somewhere in the abyss of his weapon belt and stuck up his chin. "Hah! Feisty travelers, these ones. But we have rules, you know! Time to finish this, gents. Attack!"

Of course the first thing I did was run to the back of the group. Luckily no one followed me as Alistair had hurdled himself right into the heat of the battle in my stead.

Jamie and Morrigan were already armed and prepared to attack, so the battle was quickly won. Jamie took down three almost in an instant, Alistair quickly cut down two that had decided to gang up on him, and Morrigan... Well, that was the most interesting and fantastic thing I had yet seen in this upsidown and marvelous world.

Fire. It emerged right out of nowhere. She had simply raised the staff that was mere wood, and immediately, a ball of flaming blazes were thrust from the tip and into the face of an unsuspecting foe. It was amazing to watch. It was like a flamethrower - except there was no blue fire to suggest a beginning to the power. Plus, once it was sent and away from it's source, it didn't go out. It flew forward and kept going, like a neverending bullet of heat and threat.

I didn't even hardly have to move any, nor did I have to string an arrow, before the battle was already over.

The first man jumped up and down and waved his arms wildly in a sign of submission. "Alright! Alright! We surrender! We-we-we're just trying to get by, before the darkspawn get us all!"

I walked back to the front of my group and huffed at him. "Hmph! Yeah, right. You're wrong yet again in your theory of us being not only defenseless, but stupid as well. You sicken me." I spat on the ground by his feet.

He seemed startled out of his goard. He smiled frenetically and had his hands up as if we were the cops. "Yes," He laughed nervously, "We're all criminals and we _should_ make you sick. We know this and we admit it. We apologize."

I rolled my eyes. "Pff. Please. You'll need to do better than that." I pointed at him and the rest of his surviving committee and waved my hand up and down at the wrist. "Take off all your armor and strip down to your small clothes. We'll be taking any weapons and goods you think you deserve to keep."

He was shocked - and a bit angry. "What?!"

The dumb one - Hanric - was still alive, as I soon found out. "We should just do as they say, boss. I don't wanna die!"

The 'boss' looked at us with foreboding and fear in his eyes. He reluctantly said, "I guess we have no choice. Fine. We'll do as you say. But let us take enough weapons to defend ourselves in the wilderness - the darkspawn will kill us otherwise!"

I waved a hand as if his words were yesterday's news. "Sure, you can keep a few weapons. But nothing more than that and your boots. We'll see if you have the gumption to rob another person while in your underwear."

After the gratifying experience of having such lowlife be prepared for public humiliation, I gotta say: I was pretty happy with myself. Was it probably the wrong thing to do? Yeah. No doubt. Was it entirely unmoral of me? Nah.

"You know we can't really carry all of this, right?" Jamie brought to my attention soon after the bandits had scurried away.

I shrugged. "Of course I do. But if they have any throwing knives or daggers that we can take, I'm not going to turn that down."

She sighed, but she did end up helping me organize all of their things out. We left with new belts to carry all of our needed weapons and gidgets and things, a few throwable weapons, two cloaks (there were actually three, but no one else wanted one), a thin blanket, tents for me and Jamie (who were, apparently, the only people who didn't have one), and handy gloves that I didn't put on because they made my palms all sweaty.

"Well, there it is. Lothering. Pretty as a painting." Alistair commented, gesturing to the vast and deadened wasteland that was our new savior.

"Ah. So you have finally decided to rejoin us, have you? Falling on your blade in grief seemed like too much trouble, I take it?"

Though Alistair _had_ been fairly quiet in the hours preceding our arrival, I didn't blame him at all for it. He was in mourning. Silence and time alone was at least in the tiniest bit of what he deserved.

"Is my being upset so hard to understand?" He glared bitterly at Morrigan, "Have you never lost someone important to you? Just what would you do if your mother died?"

She raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Is this before or after I stopped laughing?"

His bottom eyelids rose up just as his eyebrows narrowed in an expression of disturbed squinting. "Right. Very creepy. Forget I asked."

I shook my head at the two. "Are we actually going to go into the town, or do my feet have to stand on uncomfortable dirt for the remainder of the eve?"

Morrigan looked down on me. "Your _feet_ are the last of our concerns, I suspect."

I sighed more in exhaustion than annoyance. "No doubt. But seriously, we need to find somewhere to stay for the night."

Alistair was back on track in an instant. "Well, I thought we should talk about where we intend to go, first."

I decided this would be a long enough talk that I could go sit on the edge of the stairs. My legs croaked and moaned in pleasure under the release of pressure on them, but the coil in my stomach refused to let me have any rest from ache and pain for even a moment. I sat up as straight as I possibly could in the hope it would help. It didn't.

"Shouldn't we go inside and ask around for the latest news first? Certainly Loghain has made some kind of progress politically while we were recovering from battle." I replied tiredly.

"But we need to decide what our general plan is for afterwards, don't we?" He asked.

Jamie came to sit beside me. "Well, isn't that obvious? We're going to use the treaties."

Alistair nodded wildly in agreement - more enthusiasm than apparently me or Jamie felt after a long day. "That sounds like an excellent plan. There are three main groups that we have treaties for: the Dalish elves, the dwarves of Orzammar, and the Circle of Magi."

I yawned and nodded, giving him a thumbs up to show I appreciated his information.

"What do you think, Morrigan?" Jamie asked in my place.

She was straight to the point. "Go after your enemy directly. Find this man, Loghain, and kill him. The rest of this business with the treaties can then be done in safety."

_Not really a horrible plan, if you ask me. But then again, anything would be an okay plan right now as long as it involves a good meal beyond skimpish snacks and a decent bed to fall asleep on._

"Yes, he certainly wouldn't see that coming!" Alistair quipped. "And it's not like he has the advantage of an army and experience and-"

"I was asked for my opinion and I gave it." Morrigan scolded. "If your wish is to come up with reasons why something cannot be done, we will stand here until the darkspawn are upon us!"

I held my hands up in a peace offering. "Hey, calm down, you guys. We're all probably tired from a long day of traveling. What we need to do right now is rest." Was it a scarcely-concealed act to just be able to get into bed? Of course. But would it work? Yep. "Tomorrow we'll worry about getting to wherever we need to go, but for right at this moment, let's just get into Lothering and get down to what needs to be done: sleep."

At least Alistair was willing to compromise. "Fair enough. Let's head into the village whenever you're ready."

Though I wasn't really all that eager to be standing up and getting on my feet again, going without food for the entire day had taken it's course and I was ready for a meal.

My side hurt from walking so much. It didn't really help the whole coil thing going on.

As soon as we got into the refugee camp, we set up our tents and got ready for the night. Luckily, we were allowed to use the commune fire in the middle of the happy little gathering, so cooking was made all that much easier. I begged Morrigan to cook something for us instead of going off somewhere else on her own and the end result was taking out all of the rations left from our travel and putting it in a pot for stew. Alistair was a bit iffy eating something she had made, but it took little convincing to get him to just suck it up. We were all hungry. Being a witch of the Wilds wouldn't change that.

Dinner was quiet, mostly. It seemed we were all too tired to engage in a lasting conversation and all hit the sack as soon as we were done eating.

We stayed away from the refugees. They seemed cranky, to put it lightly, and I don't think anyone was up for another argument anytime soon.

I was sore everywhere. My arm hurt from the battle in the tower still - I had pulled my bow's string far too much and far too frantically for just one day. My hand was scathed, too, because of the constantly flying arrows. I decided I would need to get an archery glove soon, since I would probably be letting the arrows soar at a steady pace what with all the fighting in the future.

Not only that, but whatever had happened after I had gone unconscious, someone had seriously battered me up. I don't bruise easily, so there was nothing visible there, but I hurt as if I had been thrown around incessantly. I wondered if the darkspawn had kicked me over and over to make sure I was dead.

Which brought me to another question: I was laying down on Jamie with my belly down before the fight ended. So why did I have a coil wrapped around my innards? Unless I had been thrown off and kicked in the stomach repeatedly. Which was possible, all things considered.

I wasn't tired enough that I would skip getting undressed from my leathers - sleeping in them would probably be a mite uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.

As soon as everything was off, however, an old problem become new again was brought to the forefront.

"What the hell even is this." I glared viciously at the symbol of the Chantry embedded in my skin. "Get _OFF_." I demanded while I tried in vain to swipe it away. "How did you even get on me, anyway!" I didn't need to ponder to know I would probably be rubbing the skin raw before the night was over.

"Ugh." I grunted in defeat, too tired to continue such a seemingly hopeless endeavor. I would work at it more when I woke up the next morning, but at the moment, I was dead tired. I lay down in my bedroll to sleep, happy that I had a place to lay and content that the day had worked out alright.


	9. First Fade Experiences

**Sorry for the short chapters. I try to make them at least 3,500 to 6,000 words long, but sometimes they just end where they need to. I'll work harder to make them longer.**

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, Alistair was already packing up his tent.

I blinked at him a few times, my mind trying to process what was wrong with this picture. The first thing I had done was walk outside; my brain didn't have time to get to working, yet. He was halfway done rolling it up when I finally realized, with a start, what he was actually _doing_. "Oh! Wait!" I jumped up next to him. He seemed startled, himself, at my sudden appearance. He looked up at me in question, stopping his work with the tent. "What are you doing?" I asked innocently.

He raised an eyebrow a bit slowly. "I'mmm... Rolling up my tent." He drawled out, as if he were secretly asking me what he was missing or if I was the one missing something.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. Right." I blinked at him again, grabbing blindly for any words that could possibly fit into what I was trying to say.

He looked out in front of him, obviously searching in the distance for something I couldn't see. "I thought we would start moving to the West today. The sooner we get to Redcliffe the better. It'll probably take the remainder of the daylight to get there, if not longer. We got from Flemeth's hut to Lothering so quickly because of Morrigan's shortcuts. It could be three days before we reach Arl Eamon's castle, so we had better get moving."

I just stared at him. Almost immediately after each word had come out of his mouth, I had forgotten what they were. "Dehh..." I began stupidly, at a loss for words in my morning stupor.

"I don't really like to lead, but.. I thought it was a good enough plan." He added a bit shyly, retreating from his earlier bravado at his own arrangements.

I stood there with my mouth hung open like a fish while I tried to understand his statement.

He seemed to begin to be a bit alarmed at my lack of response. "I didn't mean to just go on about things all on my own, I.. Er.. I should have consulted you first. I apologize."

Facial expressions were much easier to match than words. His sudden retract in a comfortable atmosphere made me realize I probably needed to say something.

"Uhh..." I tried, "So... Cheese. What's up with that?"

He just stared at me, the most wild confusion on his face. "_What_?"

A gigantic and rather loud yawn from the right of me caught his attention. Jamie had just seemed to wake up - an accomplishment worthy of a spot in the history books, I believed; I had woken up before her. "Huh?" She cried tiredly once she saw Alistair's position with his makeshift home. "What are you packing up for? We're not leaving for a few days, are we?"

I snapped a finger at her and pointed. "Aha! That's what I was trying to say." I nodded at Alistair, my thumb now jabbed in her direction, "You see, you should listen to her. Cakes love to eat banana pie. Also, your mustache is on backwards."

He seemed at a loss for any type of reaction. "I... Don't know what to say to that, really."

Jamie waved a hand at me as if it didn't matter. "Oh, just ignore her. This is her morning ritual. If you let her get out all the nonsense in her brain she'll be back to the normal idiot she is regularly. You haven't been around her when she first wakes up, so I doubt you've seen this side of her."

I pointed a finger in the air as if I were about to tell them about the most fantastic discovery that man could ever make. "We must go to the tavern inn! TO ADVENTURE! AWAAYY!"

/ / / / / /

Some odd words and a lot of waking up later, we were on our way to 'adventure'. After we had gotten armored up and prepared to journey on, we eventually did decide that my idea, no matter how strangely it was put, would be a good place to start. We needed money, even if Lothering wasn't exactly the best place to go job hunting. Where better to go than the tavern?

It didn't take long for my brain to start functioning properly, much to the appreciation of the others. Apparently, no one understands my sleepy talk.

"Back off! I have the right to charge what I wish!"

_Oh, boy,_ I thought._ Here comes the yelling again. What a way to start the morning._

"You profit from their misfortune! I should have the templars give away everything in your carts!"

I sighed and naturally drifted towards the argument. Several others stopped to stare, as well.

"You wouldn't dare!" A man looking to be in his early forties with a beard the sliminess of a slug glared at a shriveled old woman with a scowl as deep as a dragons cavern. "Any of you step too close to my goods, and I'll-!"

"It's so nice to see everyone working together in a crisis." Alistair interrupted loudly. "Warms the heart."

Seeing him like this with the common folk of Ferelden made me think: _you know, this merchant will be talking to his future king. And he doesn't even know it._

I don't know why I always received random thoughts like that, but that's how it was.

The man's glare pointed at our raggedy group before his eyes landed on me. "Ho! You there! You look able!"

I looked around innocently as if I were confused if he was pointing at me or pointing at someone else.

He took a few angry steps towards us and growled, "Would you care to make a tiny profit helping a beleaguered businessman?"

I shrugged a bit awkwardly, feeling much like a pelican spreading it's wings in a gawking pose. "Eehhh... I don't know.. I don't really feel up to-"

"The nerve of these people!" Alistair cried.

The wrinkly old granny shook a fist at us as if she were the head of an angry mob. "He is charging outlandish prices for things people desperately need! Their blood is filling his pockets!"

Morrigan shrugged at the woman. "'Tis only survival of the fittest. All of these cretins would do the same in his place, given the chance."

"I have limited supplies. The people decide what those supplies are worth to them." The merchant sneered to the Chantry sister.

Rage lit in her eyes and she roared, "You bought most of your wares from these very people last week! Now they flee for their lives, and you want to talk business?!"

The merchant turned to me again, pointing an angry finger at the woman and snarling, "Look, stranger. I'll give you a hundred silvers if you'll drive this rabble off, starting with that priest. I'm an honest merchant, nothing more."

I rubbed my forehead tiredly. It was far too early to be dealing with people like this. Somehow, Starbucks sounded like an amazing discovery right about then.

"Look," I sighed, aggravated, "YOU," I pointed at the Chantry sister, "Are being a communist. You wish for the people who have worked for their goods to share them with the people who haven't. Not only is that completely unfair, but it's a horrible system to live by." The merchant seemed smug and the sister seemed completely furious and taken aback. But I wasn't done yet. "And YOU," I pointed at the man, who seemed shocked that I had continued on, "Are being far too unreasonable. If this were some kind of Yuletide-celebrating season to raise prices, it wouldn't be a problem. But you have raised the prices in a time where people are DYING left and right because they don't have the means to work and they don't have the money for warm shelter. You need to lower the price down to what they were before all of this happened. You're not going to get more money out of it this way, you're just going to end lives."

I raised both hands above my head, already turning away. "I'm out. PEACE."

/ / / / / /

"Well, look what we have here, men. I think we've just been blessed." A burly man the size of two Jamie's chuckled darkly. It didn't take much to notice Loghain's insignia on his shield. I sighed at the sight.

"Uh-oh. Loghain's men. This can't be good." Alistair said.

"Didn't we spend all morning asking about two women by this very description? And everyone said they hadn't seen them?" The burly man's companion asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course they haven't seen us. We just got here last night." I shrugged, "I'm touched that Loghain knows my looks, however."

The burly man didn't seem to hear me. "It seems we were lied to."

A woman I barely recognized as Leliana gracefully strode up to the two men. She laid a hand the first man's shoulder in a gesture obviously hoping to calm him down. "Gentlemen, surely there is no need for trouble." She gestured to us, "These are no doubt simply more poor souls seeking refuge."

The man ripped his shoulder away from her gentle grasp. "They're more than that. Now stay out of our way, Sister. You protect these traitors, you'll get the same as them."

I shook my head and was already reaching for my bow. "Why can't people ever just be nice? Is kindness a virtue so forgotten? Oh well, I guess. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Might as well get this over with."

The second man leaned forward, sword drawn. He seemed exuberant. "Right! Let's make this quick!"

And it was. You would never believe how fast Leliana pulled out a dagger and sliced the man without hesitation. I actually had to take a second to gawk at her. She whipped around and threw another dagger from seemingly thin air into an archers face while the first man fell on his knees to clutch his side.

There were only six of these men: three archers and three soldiers. The fact she had taken down two, and Jamie was, as becoming usual, ready for battle and took down the other two archers, the battle was already nearly over.

Morrigan hadn't made a move. I suspected she refrained from fighting because she would probably injure the actual building or maybe just because she didn't want people to know she was an apostate. I was kind of speculative about the second theory.

Alistair cut down the spare soldier, and the burly one who I assumed was the commander quickly dropped his sword just as Alistair turned to fight him.

"All right, you've won!" He cried in a desperation to live. "We surrender!"

Leliana was back to the elegant creature I had seen before within an instant. It was almost mind-boggling to see such a drastic change. "Good. They've learned their lesson and we can all stop fighting now."

I made a face akin to disturbed at her and then turned to the commander of this little escapee. "Uh. Right. Anyhow." I shook my head to clear all thoughts of personality switches from my mind, "Now that you're done being unreasonable, would you mind going back to Loghain and giving him a message for me?"

He seemed incredulous at my backhanded politeness. "W-what do you want me to tell him?"

I half-shrugged, hanging my bow back over my shoulder. "Eh, I don't know. Tell him I said hello and ask how he's doing. Talk about the weather a little bit, but don't forget to mention that his daughter is a wench and that we're probably going to come kill him soon." I turned back to look at everyone else in the group, "That's from me, but do you guys have anything you want to tell him? Maybe we should be writing this in a letter."

"I think I have some ink and parchment back in the tent," Jamie supplied helpfully.

Alistair glared at our means of communication. "You can tell him he'll pay for what he's done. He wont get away with it."

I looked at Morrigan. "Anything you wanna say? We might as well get all of our messages to him while we have the chance. I don't know his address to mail him."

She raised an eyebrow at me in question. I don't think she really knew if we were trying to be funny or if we actually were sending real messages to him. "I have nothing to say to him, I do not know him nor do I care for him!" Her tone acted that it should be obvious.

I shrugged. "Fair enough." I turned back to our messengers, "Well. There you have it. That's our combined messages to him." I flicked a hand towards the door, "Run along, now. Deliver them."

They did so, though I wonder if they were entirely disoriented at such casual behavior.

Leliana seemed bewildered, too, at my talk with them. "I..." She began, unsure. "I am sorry for interfering, but I couldn't just sit by and not help."

Now that I actually had a chance to look at her, my breath was slightly taken away. She was, for a lack of better words, beautiful. Her face was shaped in a bit of an exotic-looking femininity that I hadn't seen yet in this universe. Her hair, an abnormally deep wine color, was a perfect silk and hung lissomely around her pink, plump, warm, and openly-inviting smile.

A thin braid that was absolutely meticulous in perfection hung right in front of her left ear, and I wondered if she could teach_ me_ to make such an impeccable style with my hair. Hell, I wondered if she could even introduce me to a hairbrush. I had been keeping my own locks in a tight bun in the hopes no tangles would turn into dreadlocks.

Her eyes were like the brightest and most encouraging vast sea of blue I had ever seen next to Jamie's own shattered crystal orbs; they held a staggering hope in them that I had never seen before, be it in this world or the next.

She smelled of fresh roses and a delicate spice that I couldn't name even if I were a herbalist.

It wasn't hard to see now, standing in front of this marvelous creation of a woman, why so many loved her in the game. I could scarcely remember how she looked, now, other than what I was seeing right at that moment.

I put my hands up as if she were a cop, taking back reality into my lungs and putting my brain back in my head. "Hey, no harm done whatsoever. You helped us back there."

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Jamie added. I wondered if she would ask meaningless things like that for the remainder of our time in the Dragon Age world. I mean, sure, they were conventional, but we did already know these things.

Leliana smiled and answered a bit proudly, a hint of mischief in her tone, "I wasn't born in the Chantry, you know. Many of us had more... Colorful.. Lives before we joined." She bowed her head a bit to us. "Let me introduce myself. I am Leliana, one of the lay sisters of the Chantry here in Lothering. Or.. I was." She added a bit awkwardly.

I nodded eagerly and held out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Tessa. A pleasure."

Her hand was even soft!

"Er.. This is Jamie," I gestured towards said female, "And behind me being all silent are Alistair and Morrigan." I stabbed a thumb towards their general direction.

Alistair nodded a curt, "Hello." And Morrigan scoffed a reluctant, "Charmed."

Leliana smiled at them and then returned her gaze to me. "Those men said you're a Grey Warden. You will be battling the darkspawn, yes? That is what Grey Wardens do?" I didn't get the chance to barely even open my mouth before she continued, "I know after what happened, you'll need all the help you can get. That's why I'm coming along."

I rubbed the back of my neck. The pressure of Alistair and Morrigan's stares at me made me itchy.

"Ehh..." I glanced at Jamie for help, wondering what she thought on the matter. She shrugged very lightly in a gesture that told me: I don't know. This is your choice. I sighed and she pointed at Leliana with her eyes, as if she were reminding me I would have to say something soon. "We're going to need help, that's true," I gave in. I waved a hand as if to physically stop anything she would further say, "But that doesn't mean you can just call for an order and _tell_ us your coming along. What makes you think you have the right to do so? Whatever happened to asking permission?"

As beautiful and stunning as Leliana was in person, and as useful and amazing as she had been in battle, and as much as I had no quabble taking her along with us, it wasn't just _my_ decision. Plus, the way she just assumed we would magically accept her within a split second and take her along with us really pressed my annoyance button.

"The Maker wants me to go with you." She smiled, hands clasped in front of her. The way she toned her words made it obvious she thought that statement should explain everything.

My eyebrows shot up in unbelief. Sure, I had heard this dialogue before. But it was _completely_ different when you actually_ had_ the person say this to you. She really believed just hopping aboard would be okay. "The Maker? Well, of course it's alright then! That explains everything!" I cried enthusiastically.

She seemed pleasantly surprised at my reaction. "Then... You believe me? Oh, I _knew_ the Maker had sent a true dream! A vision, that by serving you, I serve His bold plan." Her jubilance almost made me want to feel guilty about my next reply.

"That was sarcasm, dear." I monotoned. "I don't give two shits about your 'Maker', chickity-pie. You'll have to come up with another reason."

I think I heard Morrigan snicker somewhere in the background.

Her countenance deflated. I watched as my words struck her like poison. Her eyes fluttered to the floor, a look a bit like shame and hurt in her azure depths. "I... I know that must sound... Absolutely insane-" She picked herself back up from being kicked off of faith lane and looked up at me, "But it's true! I had a dream.. A vision!"

Alistair voiced what we were all thinking: "More crazy? I thought we were all full up."

Hurt flashed again in her eyes, but she continued on, stuttering a bit from being bashed so much, "Look at the people here. They... They are _lost_ in despair." Her words came out all chopped, like she was having trouble speaking. "And this darkness, this chaos.. Will spread. The Maker doesn't want this." She seemed to plead at me from beneath her long lashes.

My tongue felt like lead. "I..." _... Don't know what to say?_ My mouth wouldn't close; it just hug there wide open like a fish.

"What you do," She peeked up at me, "What you are **meant **to do, is the Maker's work. Let me help!"

My jaw snapped shut at her words. What I was meant to do, huh? Flemeth had spoken something about 'what we were** meant** to do'. Maybe I was trying to find something between the lines that just wasn't there, but it felt like I was missing something supremely important.

The Maker, the Chantry, Flemeth, Leliana's visions... I had a really weird feeling in my chest about it, like somehow everything was connected, and to_ me_ specifically.

But no. Literally. My chest felt weird.

"I..." I shook my head. "I don't know, I... You can.. I mean.." What had she been talking about again? "Errrh... Go ahead, I mean. Yeah."

I rubbed the place where my chest felt abnormal, hoping the feeling would go away if I did so. "I think that's what I was trying to say.." I muttered under my breath to myself.

"Oh, thank you!" Leliana pressed her clasped hands to her chest in a sort of happy hop. "I appreciate being given this chance. I _will not_ let you down!"

I shook my head. "Yeah, sure, sweetheart." The words were mumbled; I could hardly focus on anything.

Jamie laid a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked.

I looked up at her and suddenly felt sick. "My stomach doesn't feel so good." Was all I said.

Her eyebrows creased in concern. "You didn't eat any suspicious wild berries, did you?" The tone was light and supposed to be funny, but the worry underneath was caught. "I know none of us have eaten yet today, but we don't have any money for food."

I waved her off. "I'm sure it's nothing. I just..." I fell short on my words as the world suddenly lurched forward, and then darkness was all I saw.

(- - - - - + - - - - - -)

**Words have no meaning.**

_I wonder who's voice that is. It's too soft to be mine. Or... Is it? Is it my own voice? I don't recognize it. I don't remember saying that, either._

**Words have no meaning.**

_There it is again. Maybe I did say it. I don't know when I did, though._

**Here in our land of actions and memories - feelings deeper than your own caliginous state.**

_No, that can't be my voice. It's too pretty. My voice doesn't sound as attractive._

**Come. Join us. We will tell all. We know you have questions.**

_Darkness. There's too much of it. I can't see anything. How will I join you if I can't find you?_

I felt rather than saw murky, swollen, dim-lit images flash somewhere behind my back. It was weird, like children running to play and too fast to catch. I turned around, and that was weird too. It barely felt as if I were standing on solid ground. Like walking on water, or thin ice, or maybe slippery mud.

"**She's dead**." The words echoed around the walls surrounding me; walls I couldn't see. They sounded heartbroken and bitter, like the world had taken everything.

"**Your grief must come later, in the shadows right before you take vengeance**." This one was cold and indifferent, calculating and authoritative.

"**Yes, mother.**" It was the same voice from a few seconds ago, but it sounded so dead and obeying. Young. Old. Experienced. All these things, and yet I couldn't place where I'd heard it before. It was like a whisper in the back of my mind that I couldn't quite understand, too silent to make out anything coherent.

The dark world before me flitted to different shapes and colors then, as if I was being taken somewhere deeper.

Soft giggles from a child bounded from everywhere. I turned sporadically this way and that, trying to find out where it had come from, but to no avail.

"**Why dance? Why dance _at all_? Why not sing?**" I had heard those words before. I knew I had. But where had I heard them? The voice that had said them just now didn't sound right in the least. They were a child's voice, something untainted and pure. I felt as if someone older should say them.

More warbled images spun in circles around my head, taunting and yet not close enough to feel they were exactly for me.

"**You've rage enough inside you, tempered into a blade of fine steel. Into whose heart will you plunge that one day, I wonder?**" A different voice from the other times. It resounded like silence and yet it was heard. It was contradictory and yet it was so sure.

I knew had heard those words before. I had even heard that voice. But where?

It slowly drove me into madness. The feeling I was missing something grew even larger in the back of my mind, and I pounded against my unseen walls for the fear I would never get out. "WHERE _AM_ I?! LET ME GO!"

My heart pounded in my chest at the words that had left my lips. It wasn't my voice that had come out, it was something else entirely. Something unnatural. Like someone was speaking over me, but through me all at once.

And then there was nothing. Silence was too much of a word to put a name to what had happened. It was like a lack of life everywhere. No more images. No more voices.

**"I am a fly in the ointment; I am a whisper in the shadows."** I heard. It was as if it were spoken right in my ear. It was too soft to protrude from someone's lips. It was too clear to be imagined. **"I am the wonder in your heart when you discover new secrets; I am the answer to the questions you keep locked inside."** I recognized this voice as female, and even more beyond that. I knew who it was, and yet every time I began to think her name, it slipped away from me. I wondered if I actually _did_ know, or if it was all in my mind. **"I am the cocoon all creatures wrap themselves in when the proper time has come; I am the moonlight upon your face."** I was so entranced by this woman. It was like being enraptured with more than your mind and your heart. It was like being swept away to the core of your soul.

**"I am the mother when you are a babe; I am the interest that sparks in your eyes."** I began to believe her words. She was no longer just describing a vague impression of who she might be, but she was now describing the future; the past. She was describing me as well as herself. **"I am the Fade when you lay down your head; I am the darkness when hatred clutters your spirit." **

I nodded in my invisible place in wherever I was. It was an acknowledgement to the woman telling me soft murmurs in my ear. Whether she existed or not made no difference; I would answer to her beckons. **"I am the power inside all those with The Gift; I am the One you turn to in your time of weakness and sorrow."**

And then she was gone. Her voice's disappearance was like a hollow emptiness inside of me and it ached. I begged for her to come back, to give me company again so I could listen to her. But she didn't. I thought I wept in the darkness around me, but I am unsure.

And then light.

Bright, like a circular spot for a dancer on a neverending plane. I was drawn towards it immediately, the unfulfilled desire the woman had left within me pleading for something to be at the end of that illuminated prize.

As soon as my foot stepped onto that piece of something amidst the nothing surrounding, a thousand voices called out to me. Men, women, children, of all ages and all tones said one thing to me:

**"We are the path you walk on, the one that is forever narrowing. We are the answer to your question: we are your Harrowing."**

Plunged forever into a world I could not bear; icy cold and too slick for my taste.

**Darkness again.**

(- - - - - + - - - - - -)

"**TESSA!** WAKE UP!" It wasn't Jamie's normal yell. It was a terrified scream - a call for rescue.

My surroundings were far too bright when my eyes opened. It was like I was entering an entirely different dimension; the atmosphere wasn't like the one I had just emerged from, it was too thick and too physically-felt. And the first thing, I'll add, that I_ felt_ in this physical realm was wind. Lot's of it.

"Maker help us!" Was a strangled cry not far from my right.

My eyes fluttered open just as a wooden fork flew right past my head. I looked around in immediate confusion. The world had changed too quickly; I wasn't really sure quite where I was, much less what I had suddenly been hurdled into. "What's going on?" It wasn't as loud as I'd liked for it to have been. The words were too quiet to be heard from across the room.

Immediately the wind ceased. "What happened?" I asked, louder this time.

The world was in chaos.

I realized I was in different surrounding's than I was before I had apparently passed out - we had gone from being inside the Tavern to being inside a small room big enough to be a bathroom.

Jamie was in one corner of the room and Leliana was in the other. Different assortments of things - parchment, eating utensils, books, quills - lay strewn all over. It looked like a hurricane had passed through wherever we were.

Instantly Jamie rose to her feet from her sitting position on the floor. The hand that had been clutching her forehead now moved with her other hand to fiercely grab onto the front of Leliana's Chantry robes. "_What did you do?!_" She slammed the Sister into the nearest wall with an anger I hadn't seen in years.

Leliana's pure sapphire eyes glanced frenetically from Jamie to me, obviously panicked at recent events. "I... I had no intention...! I did not know, I-!"

"Who knows what could have happened! You could have killed her! You could have killed _us_! Why didn't you tell anyone?!" Jamie's fury was dying down, I could tell, but it was still flared like a fat lady's rump. Jamie spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at me, "Why didn't _you_ tell anyone?! Why didn't you tell_ me_?!"

I blinked at her. "I... Married my mustache?"

She glared the sharpest daggers at me, obviously unamused at my lame answer. "You're a mage. A mage! And you didn't tell anyone! You didn't even share it with _me_!"

I gaped openly at her, eyes as wide as saucers. "I'm a _what_?! Wait a minute! I'm a.. What do you mean! I'm a_ what!_"

She stormed up to me and pointed a razor-pointed fingernail right at my chest. "This," She stated as if I were supposed to say something, "How long has this been here? You must have known. How could you not? Why didn't you_ tell_ me!"

I removed her finger (mostly because it was starting to hurt) and stared down at where she had pointed. The Symbol of the Chantry had been peeled off like a 50 cent tattoo you get at gas stations; about a quarter of it was still sucked to me, the other bits were rolled up like a caterpillar. "No way," I gasped.

Jamie stuck her hands on her hips. "What do you mean, 'no way'?"

I looked up to her and shrugged, eyes still as wide as ever. "I had no idea I was a mage! Honest!" I looked up at the ceiling briefly as if it had given me a reminder of something, "Well, I mean, besides me being an actual witch. But that doesn't count at all. Not the same thing."

She seemed to accept my words, but she still seemed pretty upset. "How could you not know you were a mage? And what is that symbol coming off? I've never seen it before."

I shrugged again, this time bigger and more dramatic. "No clue! It's only been there for about two days now. It wouldn't come off for the life of me! I swear!" I suddenly got more serious, looking Jamie deep in her eyes. "I promise you I only _forgot_ to tell you about this. I would never keep a secret from you."

And it was true. There were no boundaries of myself that she could not penetrate. Anything she wanted and I would bend to her will. Everything about me was an open book to her, and she was the only one who had that power.

"I really hadn't thought it was very important. So I forgot about it, mostly, until the end of the day when I had to go to bed." I threw my arms up in the air, "And then I forgot about it when I woke up! I had no idea it could be pertinent to any abilities I might have."

She sighed and closed her eyes in defeat. She knew I was telling the truth; I could see it on her face. "Only you could be such an idiot."

Her words were a token of forgiveness. "So what happened?"

Leliana inched forward. "I was checking your body for any wounds. Your friend Morrigan had already looked you over, but I thought I could pray over you. The Maker heals all things with time."

I made a face. I didn't really like the thought of being 'prayed over.'

"Sure, but _what happened_?" She was neglecting to tell me what I really wanted to know.

Jamie crossed her arms. "She began removing that... Thing.. On your chest. She said it looked like the type of symbol the Chantry in the Marches use for mages made tranquil."

I scratched an itch that had suddenly formed on my skull. "But how? I tried and tried to get that thing off and it wouldn't budge."

Leliana's expression was innocent and truthful. "I simply touched it and it began to peel. It did not take much to get it off.. Or.. at least _somewhat_ off."

My attention was brought down to the aforementioned mark. True, it wasn't completely off. I scratched at it and pulled at it and it was gone within a few mere seconds. I stared at the Chantry remnants in my hand and squinted at them as if they were the cause of all evil in the world. "What even is this? Where did it come from?"

Jamie shrugged. "Well, when did it appear?"

I searched her face as if it held the answer. I thought back, and then answered, "Well... It was one of the first topics Morrigan chose to talk with me about. So I guess it came when we were rescued by Flemeth. But I really don't know if it was there beforehand. I don't remember."

Jamie rolled her eyes and sat down on the small bed in the room. "Of course you don't. I swear you have dementia or something."

I shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry."

"Chaos occurred once it was broken!" Leliana exclaimed, as if we had never broken the tale of what had happened. "It was like a whirlwind, but not strong enough to blow out our candles. I have not seen something like it before."

I noticed Jamie was clutching her forehead again. "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

She waved a hand at me as if to shoo away my question. "I'm fine. Something just hit me when your magic flared up."

I frowned and was at her side instantly. I removed her hand (to her reluctance) and revealed a gash the size of my thumb bleeding just barely. It was partially concealed by her hairline. "Oh, no," I murmured quietly.

A horrible foreboding crept into my spine. What if I had been more powerful than I was now and another accident like this occurred? What if it wasn't just a shallow wound I caused? What if I truly did hurt her? Jamie was the only thing in this world I had left. She was my only link to prove that Earth had actually existed. In a way, she was the only reason I could hold any sanity in my grasp. If she were gone or hurt - especially by my own hand - I could never be the same. I would rather die alongside her than face a death I could not bear.

I turned to Leliana, almost panicked, "We need to find a way to control this. Now."

Jamie smacked my shoulder lightly. "Oh, come on. You know it's not that easy. And it's not like this was your fault, either. All mages go through a point where they can't control anything. It's called 'manifestation of power'. You know that as well as I do."

My eyebrows drew together. I suspect I probably looked constipated. "I don't care. I don't want you- no, I don't want _anyone_ to get hurt. Not by me, anyhow."

Her eyelids lowered. "Uh-huh. And how exactly do you think we're supposed to defeat darkspawn, then? Laugh them to death? I doubt I have so many jokes to tell."

I sighed and rested my head on her shoulder. "And I doubt they'd listen. You know what I meant."

So if that weird voodoo I had gone through was the Fade, and I was now back, did that make me... Faded? Heheheheh.

"Whatever, dork. You should ask Morrigan if she'll teach you to control your magic."

I looked up at her, and for once, I gave her the expression and that said she was an idiot. "You're kidding, right. There's no way in hell she'd do that."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Oh yeah? And I'm sure she'd be just fine with a random explosion every now and then. No problem, right?"

I pressed my lips together. "You make a good point, but unless you think you can convince her..."

She lifted her chin proudly. "Just watch me."


End file.
